Yearning for the Moon
by LinkLover123
Summary: A hidden power is suddenly revealed to Sailor Moon by the Silver Imperium Crystal, giving her the power to travel across universe. But she doesn't want to bare the burden of Protector of Universes. She just wants to go home. Join Sailor Moon as she jumps between universes and meets new friends and foes in search for the door to lead her back home. Yami Yugi x Serena
1. Chapter 1: Into the Rabbit Hole She Goes

A breeze caressed the side of a young girl's face and picked up her long, golden strands of hair and tousled it in the air. Serena latched onto Darien's arm as she dragged him to the nearest takoyaki stand. The unmasked Tuxedo Mask smiled at this love, in his present and past life, and hopefully in the next as well. He pulled out his wallet, albeit a little reluctantly as he knew how large her appetite could get sometimes. He chuckled. Well, anything for his princess and his future queen.

Darien's smile grew fonder at Serena as she took in an entire takoyaki ball. The schoolgirl yelped as its piping heat and damaged to her tongue within its first contact. But she would never spit out something her dear boyfriend had bought her. The masked protector by night chuckled at his girlfriend. "You can spit it out if it's too hot, you know."

She gave him an adorable pout and shook her head. The meatball head drew up an index finger to signal him to give her a moment and proceeded to swallow the hot takoyaki ball. The tall man gave her a small smile, his heart almost overflowing with endearment for his princess. He had missed her dearly and wanted to make up for the time they had been separated.

As they rounded the corner of the familiar arcade, the couple met the rest of the group. She ran to hug them tightly, joyfully laughing all the way. It was the first time they were together after the battle with Galaxia. This was the impeccable scene. Of Serena with her friends and her love. She had it all in this one moment.

If she knew she would lose it all in the next, she would have hugged them tighter. Would have laughed more. Would have kissed Darien one more time. Would have told each and every one of them that she loved them more than life itself.

Without any notice, no big shift in the universe, no explosion, not even an implosion, Serena slowly started dissipating. At first, even she hadn't even noticed. But when she tried to take a step to follow her friends, she fell. They laughd endearingly. Classic clumsy Serena. But Darien, who had immediately went to her side, yelled with horror that her foot was disappearing into specks of light.

For a moment, she did not believe it herself. She tried to pat her phantom limbs, to prove to her friends and herself that she did indeed exist. But to no avail. Her skin transformed into flecks of light that would float into the air like dandelion seeds. As her shins began to disappear, so did her fingers. She started floating, the loss of limbs making her weightless. Darien, Rei, Ami, Lita, Mina, Luna, and Artemis reached out for her floating, disappearing figure, all screaming her name. They did not care that they were causing a scene. Several heads turned to the phenomenon. Others paced on, dismissing the event at some filming stunt not worthy the distraction. Some deadlines were more important things a disappearing girl. Their apathy went unnoticed by the people who were screaming Serena's name in despair.

Serena could do nothing as she disappeared. She reached out for them, her translucent fingers stretched towards her beloved prince. Even the tears that she shed for her beloved weren't allowed to exist in this world any longer as they too, dissolved into nothing. Once again, they were helpless in a fate bigger than them. A fate that would do anything and everything to attain her. It was cruel. But it was an ageless truth.

She woke up with a migraine. It was as if a thousand small hammers were banging against the perimeter of her skull. And. It. Was. Painful. She did not even want to open her eyes. For some reason, behind her eyelids, she saw the imprint of lights from all directions. She willed her eyes open.

The sight before ripped all words out of her mouth before she could even begin to form them. She didn't know whether to be amazed or terrified. Around her were so many orbs emitting a bright blue light. They floated in space just as she did in front of her friends. Except the orbs didn't seem to have anywhere to go.

Serena's ears pick up the sound of heels echoing off marble floors. But that was impossible because there were no discernable floors in the world she existed in. There was only space. A blue, endless space that encompassed her like an ocean.

"Hello, Serenity." Hearing the sound of a familiar voice, she leapt to her feet and ran toward what she thought to be the source. As she did so, her mind began to register that she was no longer in her civilian clothing, but the fluttering pearl white dress of her past life.

It was Sailor Pluto. And if it was Pluto's voice, then it must mean she was in the Space Time Continuum. She ran several paces before Sailor Pluto's voice spoke again.

"Princess, do not waste your energy in trying to find me. I do not exist in that plane as my powers do not-cannot extend there."

"What are you talking about, Pluto? Where am I? Why am I here?" she begged to the woman as she ceased her fruitless search for the space-time keeper.

"Princess, turn around and look carefully at the orb in front of you."

The blonde girl did as she was told. The closest sphere was bright and glowing so it took several moments for her to adjust to understand what she was seeing. She gasped when the sight hit her. It was the scene she had just left from. Darien and all her girl friends were frantically looking for her, desperately calling out her name. Although their voices did not carry over to where she was, she could imagine their cries in her head. She yearned to return to their arms. With no hesitation, she ran toward the sphere with all her might, ignoring Pluto's cry for her to stop.

"Wait, Princess! If you do that, you'll-" the Sailor Scout warned, but before she could finish, Serena reached the sphere that contained her friends and was immediately repelled. It felt like she had ran full force into an electric fence. An electrifying pain shot through her and fried all of her nerves. It was if a thousand needles were pounded into her skin at once. She cried out in pain and crumbled to the ground. The moon princess sat there, convulsing, as tears poured down her face from the agony. It took several moments for the blinding pain to ebb away.

When her senses finally came back to her, she could hear Pluto's worried voice calling out to her in her head. "Pluto, please tell me what's going on. Why can't I go back to my friends?"

She heard the tanned woman take in a breath and imagined that she was steadying herself. Worry began to curl the insides of her stomach.

"Princess, as the heir to the Silver Millennium Crystal and the future Neo-Queen Serenity, you are tasked with a burden that only you can bear."

Puzzled, Serena pushed further, "what are you talking about, Pluto?" Her mind raced. What more could there be to being the future protector of the universe?

"Princess Serenity, you are not only the protector of your universe, but _all_ universes."

The Lunar Princess's mind went blank as she attempted to process those words. She let the words saturate her mind, but it was if the words were being repelled like a difficult math formula she could never comprehend. She was glad she was still on the floor, her knees splayed out under her, because she did not have the strength to get up. Even if she did, that sentence would have knocked her off her feet. Serena stared at her hands in her lap, still shell shocked.

"My Princess, please look up. Look carefully at the orbs around you." She did as Pluto commanded. She craned her neck upwards to assess the scenery in front of her. Slowly but surely, she began to distinguish scenes inside the orbs, just like with her own world. She saw people flourishing on fantastical lands she had only seen in movies. She saw warriors fighting on a battle arena as the cheers of the crowd shook the stadium. In other spheres, she saw forms that were as far from human as could be. However, from some spheres, she could distinguish a sadness that drew her to them. In those spheres, she saw blood splattered everywhere, painting the world in a sea of red. It was terrifying and too much for her to process. She clutched her eyes shut, unable to look at any other orb, scared of what she would find.

"Pluto… are you telling me that each of these orbs contain a universe?" the revelation came crashing down on her like a thousand worlds.

"Yes, you are correct. From what I understand, each orb contains a universe, sometimes even more."

In an unidentifiable tone she asked, "So there might be a plane such as this in one of those orbs?"

"Perhaps. I do not have all the answers. I only know the details that your mother spared me through her journeys as I am unable to travel through the worlds myself. My powers only work in our world."

"Wait! You're telling me that my mother also did this as well?! I don't remember any such thing from my previous life."

"Of course not. Not all your memories of your last incarnation were restored. It's better that way. There is no reason to relive them. Plus, these duties would not have been revealed to you until the crystal deemed that you were ready to receive them. It seems that after your battle with Chaos, the crystal has deemed you ready to begin your journey as Protector of Universes."

Whether incapacitated by shock or incredulity, Serena did not say anything so the time keeper continued.

"This is speculation, but I surmise that the crystal is the reason you cannot return to your home world. Simply, it will not let you take the throne of Neo Queen Serenity in Crystal Tokyo until you fulfill its requirements. Before you ask, I do not know what those are. Just as I guard the secrets of time in our world, Queen Selenity kept the secrets of universe traveling under tight guard. Only the heirs to the Lunar Dynasty are able to inherit the powers and secrets bestowed to them by the Silver Imperium Crystal."

"I can't do it." Pluto said nothing to Serena's answer. "Even if I could, how long would jumping in between worlds to fulfill some kind of wild goose chase for the crystal take? Months? Years?"

The Princess of the Moon felt her tears well up within her.

Pluto replied in careful and controlled manner, knowing that her answer would not be taken well. "It might take decades. Perhaps centuries."

Centuries were like a drop of water in an ocean to the Goddess of Time. Although she had not been there for the birth of the universe, she knew that she had been in existence long enough to no longer feel the passage of time. Her ageless body and mind made sure of that. It hurt when she had to watch the Moon Kingdom fall, and it hurt much more the second time when Crystal Tokyo fell to the hands of the Black Moon Kingdom. But Pluto quelled the surge of pain in her as she watch the destruction of her fellow soldiers. She did not even resort to escape to the past or future when Sailor Galaxia came to destroy her. That was how committed she was to her duty. But the agony that flooded through her as she watch her future queen crumble to the floor made her wished that she were by her side right now. This immortality was a curse and now her princess had to bare the same fate as her.

Immediately the dam holding back her tears broke at such a harsh revelation and Serena could do nothing but let the sobs wrack through her whole body. She thought back to the last battle. The battle that had taken everything out of her. The one that had taken everyone from her. Her loyal Sailor Scouts. Her Darien. Their future daughter. She had just lost them all and the only thing holding her together was one small seed of hope inside her soul. It was so small and fragile but it was the thing that had saved them all. Maybe that's what the Silver Imperium Crystal had seen and had deemed as what Serena needed to begin her ascension to her throne. But this new found power was not a gift, it was a curse if it prevented her from seeing her loved ones.

"Princess...I know this is very difficult to process. There's only one thing I can do to help you in your journey on my side. I can stop time in this universe. While you may return for an unidentifiable amount of time later, while you may change, I can guarantee the people you care about will not. No harm will come to them because _nothing_ will happen. I know this is not much of a consolation considering the difficulties you will face in your upcoming journey, but it is all I can offer."

Pluto gave the crying Princess one more mental nudge, "my future Queen, there is one more thing I must tell you. Stopping time is the most grievous crime a Time Guardian can commit. As much as I wish to be there for you, even if it's just my voice, stopping time entails that I must also be trapped within the time itself. But I believe that you will gain the power to come back to us and restart time again. I, and all your loved ones, wholeheartedly believe in you, Princess, so always have faith in yourself. Please always remember that we love you."

As the words sank into Serena, she put all of her energy into her legs and forced them to move. To do something other than sit there and helplessly watch. Dammit, she was Sailor Moon, daughter of the Moon Kingdom, future Queen of Crystal Tokyo, and sole wielder of the Silver Imperium Crystal! She shot up and ran towards the large sphere containing her home and friends. She reached her hand out in a hopeless attempt to put a stop to Pluto's plans.

"Stop Pluto! There must be another way!" she cried as tears streamed down her face.

Ignoring the tearful pleas of her princess, Sailor Pluto, fated daughter of Chronos, took the Garnet Orb from its rightful place in her staff, and crushed it within her fingers, causing everything to still within the universe. It was instantaneous. The blood stop coursing through her body. On Earth, the Sailor Scouts and Darien were frozen in their spot, their faces etched with desperation as their search for their beloved friend and lover permanently ceased. Rivers stopped flowing and birds paused in mid-flight. The moon stopped revolving around its beloved earth. Black holes paused in their destruction. Supernovas simply stilled as its splatter permanently stained the cosmos.

The moon princess saw all these images through the orb in the instant she touched it. Unfortunately for her, the simultaneous impact of her contact and Sailor Pluto's shattering of the time-space continuum blasted Serena backwards. The electrifying pain was almost a hundred times worse and Serena promptly blacked out as her nerves were singed to the very core. Her unconscious body was thrown towards a glowing sphere and it absorbed her without a second thought.

Serena began her descent into a dark and infinite abyss.


	2. Believe in the Heart of the Cards

A gray spiky-haired old man basked peacefully in front of his shop, humming an old tune as he sweeped fallen leaves from cluttering the entrance. The shop behind him stood proudly under the bright, sunny sky, the letters "GAME" glinting in the sunlight.

Today was surely going to be a good day. Solomon Muto felt it in his bones. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a delivery truck nearing the front of his store. The truck came to a stop and a delivery woman stepped out of the vehicle. Before long, she approached the greying grandpa with a box and a clipboard. She handed a small cardboard box twice the size of his hands to the shop owner with one hand, and with the other, held out the board for his signature. The exchange was quick and simple and the delivery woman was already on her way to her next delivery.

"Ah! I knew today was going to be was going to be a good day. An old man's intuition is never wrong," he mused. Solomon quickly entered his shop and went behind the counter. He grabbed a box cutter and cut the box open to reveal several decks of trading cards. The Muto elder placed the cards onto his glass countertop and began sifting through them. He organized them by categories: monster, trap, and spell cards. A 'Monster Reborn' card here, a Harpies card there. These were the typical sought after cards that garnered the most profits in his shop to keep it afloat.

Reaching the last face down card, he felt a strange pull towards it, which was odd because he never felt such a thing unless he was in the middle of a game. Turning it over, a small gasp escaped him as his eyes widened and his brows shot up to the top of his forehead. It was the most mystical card he had ever seen, rivaling the mystique of even the God Card he had seen in Yugi's possession.

The figure contained in the card was an undeniably beautiful woman with shining, silver hair. Long locks of silver trailed from two heart shaped buns that sat on each side of her forehead. Her form-fitting sailor outfit was white except for one part on her skirt, filled with stripes of all colors. She possessed a foreboding staff taller than her in her left hand. The most striking thing about the card was the fact that although her mouth was set in a stern expression, her eyes betrayed the warmth underneath it. While the card subject was an oddity in itself, its strangeness was nothing compared to the content on the rest of the card. Actually, the oddness more so lied in the _lack_ of content. The power status, attribute, and even the name betrayed nothing to the old-time collector. He couldn't even discern whether it was a monster or a spell card. It was simply blank, filled with open spaces and question marks.

Upon further inspection, he saw a short inscription within the card description box: "Card abilities will be revealed when activated." He stroke his chin in wonder. He had never seen a card such as this in all of his years as a dueler and card collector. Perhaps, this was a new set of cards released in secret by Pegasus. He wouldn't put it past the eccentric man. If that were the case, then he was sure a lucky man to happen on such a wondrous find. Especially a beautiful one such as this one.

He put the card in the front pocket of his overalls, the safest place he knew. He was sure to show this to his grandson later when he returned home from school.

Yugi Muto let out a great sigh as he walked home from school. His friends had already parted with him three quarters of the way home and he was silently grateful for his time alone. Well, not exactly "alone."

"What's wrong, Yugi?" his other self asked. An older, darker self.

He let out one more sigh for measure. "Sorry, Pharaoh. It's just things have been getting awfully weird lately. Especially the mime incident from last week. I mean, I'm grateful we won Slifer the Sky Dragon from that battle, but it really drained me. I don't think I can take another unusual incident any time soon."

"Yugi, you have the soul of an unnamed Pharaoh possessing you. I don't think it can get any stranger than that," the said soul smirked.

He smiled as his mood lifted from the joke. He forgot that sometimes Yami made those. "Yea, I guess you're right."

Approaching his grandpa's game shop, he opened the door and called out "I'm home" to check if he were there or upstairs.

"Ah, Yugi!" the old man greeted, "come back here. I have something to show you! A new card delivery came in today!"

Both Yugi and Yami perked up at the mention of new cards. Hurriedly, he raced to the back of the shop. The spiky-haired teen hugged his grandfather hello and made his way to the table with several small stacks of cards. He took his deck out of his dueling disk and placed it on the table as well.

"Take your pick," the Muto elder chirped, "you'll need whatever leverage you can get with the Battle City Tournament roaring up!"

As the young boy shuffled through the stacks of new cards, muttering to himself as he read the card descriptions, his grandpa reached into his pocket and slipped a facedown card into his deck without the occupied teen noticing. His other self, however, narrowed his eyes on the action, but did not make any attempt to alert Yugi. He noticed that the spiky-haired gameowner had a proud and knowing smile on his face. Knowing that the doting grandfather would never in a million years do something as heinous as sabotaging someone's deck, especially that of his grandson, the dark soul kept quiet. He guessed he, along with Yugi, would find out sooner or later in the arena. Adding a little mystery would make the game more interesting.

The old game shopkeeper mentally applauded himself at the great sleight of hand he just accomplished. A distracted audience was the best one. He had originally planned to show Yugi the card the minute the boy got home. But then he had a change of heart. He thought it be more fun if the young dueler discovered the card in the midst of a battle. After all, what was a dueler with no tricks.

The good weather continued into the weekend. Many duelers saw this is as a blessing and made their trek into the city in pursuit of holders of locator cards. One young man and his group of friends were no different as they walked through the city. The streets were bustling with raw competitive energy as duels caused crowds to gather from one corner to the next.

A multi-colored spiky haired boy struggled to make his way through the crowds. Due to his small stature, he was getting shoved left and right as he tried to make his way to the front of the spectators. The boy was too gentle and worried about hurting other people to attempt to force his way, so with a defeated side, he let himself be thrown back to the streets.

"Darn it, I was really hoping to watch this battle as a mental warm up," he picked himself up from the ground and swatted the dirt from his pants. He turned his head left and right and stood on the balls of feet.

"Looks like I lost Joey and the rest of them too," he sweatdropped.

HIs other self folded his arms and looked down at his reincarnated self, "Perhaps you can send them an electronic message on your small black device."

The younger Yugi chuckled at the suggestion, but pulled out his flip phone nonetheless. "I forgot how well you seem to acclimate to today's technology. You're right though. It'd be better than trying to find them in this chaos."

He scanned his surroundings once more and spotted a small, emptier park at the end of the road. He sent the message "let's meet at the park when you can." He suspected that Joey was either in search of a duel or lunch. And wherever Joey went, Tristan was by his side. Tea was probably trying to get the group back together so she would probably be the first to get his message. A soft blush sprinkled across the young boy's face at the thought of his friend but he quickly shook his head to rid himself of the thought. He didn't want his head in the clouds today. An amused smile painted Yami's face as he clearly saw through Yugi's thoughts. When the boy got flustered, it was easy to read his unguarded mind.

The Muto boy started pacing towards the park. He was just about to reach the top of the tallest hill, but a small, fast body hit him and they both fell down.

The spirit quickly called out to Yugi, asking if he was okay as he was trying to get his bearings. He rubbed his head, trying to soothe the bump forming. "Wow," he mused, "this is the second time I've been knocked to the floor in five minutes. That's a new record even for me."

When the sharp pain finally receded, he was able to open his eyes and examine the weight still on top of him. First of all, his vision was filled with a bubble gum pink which he never thought possible to be a hair color. Though Yugi knew he shouldn't be one to talk about strange hair colors. At the child-like feminine "ow" that resounded from the unknown figure on top of him, he figured it was a young girl.

The small girl drew back from the taller boy and the two took that moment to size each other up. The child had a hairstyle that he dared say rivaled his in strangeness. Her hair was tied up into two cotton candy pigtails with cone-shaped buns sitting at the top. Her odd hairstyle along with her shining red eyes reminded Yugi of a bunny rabbit. She was wearing a short navy skirt and a sailor white button up that stopped at her shoulders. A red ribbon sat in the center of her chest. Although Yugi was still lying on the ground, he placed her height to be around his waist. Based on her appearance, she must have been an elementary schooler.

Finally breaking from his trance caused by the unusual girl in front of him, he finally realized that she was staring intently at him. He rose and put his hand on the back of his head in his classic nervous position of apologetic humility. Yugi let out a soft chuckle, "Sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going. I hope you're alright. I probably softened the landing for you."

"Are you the King of Games?" the small girl asked without missing a beat.

Taken aback, the high school teen stumbled a bit before meekly replying, "w-what?"

"You are him, right? If you are, I want to challenge you a to a duel," the pink-haired girl looked at him with piercing eyes.

"What?" he lamely said once again, paralyzed by her audacity.

Frustration furrowed her brows, "what don't you understand? I'm challenging you to a duel."

Still, nothing came to his mind. He didn't know how to react to this situation. He had never been face with such ferocity by someone who seemed to weigh less than a cloud before. Well, his mind flashed back to a sandy-haired girl clutching a teddy bear.

"Yugi," the ancient spirit's voice drew him from his reverie, "why are you getting pushed around by someone half your size?"

Mentally, he voiced his protest, "how am I supposed to reject someone like her?"

Yami smirked knowingly, "Sometimes, you're too kind for your own good."

"What does that mean-" he started to protest but his counterpart interrupted him.

"Let me handle this," the darker side of him commanded. Not seeing any other option, he relented and allowed the spirit to take over his body.

A gust of wind swirled around him, momentarily blinding the small girl. She lifted her arms to cover her eyes to prevent any dust to hit her. When she dropped her arms, the figure before her seemed to have grown taller. Even his hair changed, appearing spikier than before. The most dynamic shift was in his eyes. Instead of the soft round eyes that had barely had the confidence to look at her before, a hard pointed look glared at her instead. He now had his arms folded and glowered at the rabbit-like girl. The scene was akin to a predator holding the gaze of a prey. Except this prey was unwilling to back down.

"Look here, little bunny," the teen who used to be Yugi said in a much deeper voice, "I don't have time to humor you. Now run along."

"Yami! You don't have to be so rude," Yugi chided but his admonishment went ignored.

She huffed at the nickname clearly meant to demean her, "what? Are you too scared to accept my challenge, King of Games?"

A vein ticked at her sneering use of his title. The flames of his pride licked at his inside. Usually he was more level-headed but he had been itching for a duel this morning. Plus, he liked the fire in her eyes.

"Alright, I accept your challenge," the Pharaoh said definitively.

The small girl gave a smirk that rivaled his own and pulled at a cat-shaped ball. The two Yugis were a bit confused to how they had both failed to notice a ball larger than her head.

She proceeded to bounce it like a basketball and yelled out, "abracadabra, Luna-P!" Suddenly, both Yami and Yugi were blinded by the cat ball exploding in a flurry of pink smoke. When the smoke settled, there stood the rabbit-like girl with a duel disk almost as large as her entire body. The sight was almost comical and both men wondered how she hadn't fallen over with the duel disk that seemed to engulf her.

As the two duelist stepped into position in the still sparsely populated park, Yugi continued watching her over Yami's shoulder. He looked into her passion-filled eyes. It was like she was on a mission to accomplish something greater than herself and she would stop at nothing to lose.

"Yami," he began, "be careful of this one."

—

The duel began as any other. A few starter monsters in position. Yami placed his trusted Celtic Night Guardian in position. The familiar feel of the cards in his fingers soothed the ache he had been feeling since this morning. He knew this deck like the back of his hand. Yugi's presence and advice was comforting as the battle drew on.

He had to give the little girl credit. She was good at holding her own. At first, Yami wanted to laugh a bit at the way her deck seemed to really fit her. It was a fairy type deck with lots of pink and flowery monsters. It was his first time seeing a such a thing and he realized that it was because he often more than not dueled men instead of women.

There was one thing he had been right about. She had a lot of rabbit-type monster and spell cards. It was pretty amazing to see that much fluff and pink on the dueling field. He actually appreciated it. It was a good change of pace compared to the more dark duels that he's had recently where he and Yugi's life or soul was put in jeopardy.

Yugi, on his part, was being uncharacteristically quiet. He preferred to study the small girl and try to figure out the pattern. He hadn't voiced much of his thoughts so far other than his advice for the taller man to be careful of his opponent. Yami had let the advice slide off his shoulders, not taking it very seriously as he continued to battle the girl in pink.

However, his thought process finally shifted during the second half of the battle. How did he know it was the second half? Because slowly but surely, the cotton pink haired girl had whittled his life points down to 2000, while hers were at a comfortable 3300.

How did come to happen?

Yugi spoke up in his mind. "While her monsters have low attack points, they have a relatively high defense. Her spell cards strengthen her monsters by softening up our attack damage. While we haven't been managing to make a big hit on her, she's been chipping away at our life points a lot quicker than what we've been able to do to her."

The usually quiet teen surveyed the large pile of rabbits spilling onto the field. "She has little bunny rabbits that's been taking the large attacks, much like our Kuribo, except it seems like she has an infinite resource for those. Her trap card allows them to multiply at every turn. Unless we can conduct one large attack, then we won't be able to get through her defense."

This was the first time something as vital as the gap in his life points slipped his notice. His hubris was blinding him and it had been too late before he had finally understood.

His mind flicked to the thought of Slifer the Sky Dragon except he shook his head at the ridiculousness of it. He didn't walk into this duel planning to summon a God card against a defenseless little girl. Well, at the start of this duel, he didn't think he had to resort to his ultimate God card period.

This little bunny was a lot more than he bargained for and he smiled at the thought. He was lucky then to have had engaged in battle with her. She was teaching him a thing or two about letting pride shroud your judgement. And about how looks don't determine the prowess of a dueler.

As the battle waged on and he summoned two more monsters to the field, Dark Magician and Kuribo, his friends showed up to the park.

"Hey Yuge!" Joey greeted with a little bit of ketchup at the corner of his lips.

Téa had Tristan in tow by the elbow and she was panting as she walked up the side of the hill.

"Sorry we're late Yugi! These two nimrods have a complicated relationship with food, and I had a difficult time trying to get them here," the tall girl looked exasperatedly between her two so-called friends. Sometimes they acted more like children. Yugi was the most calm and level-headed of the group so she much prefer being by his side than having to herd these two around.

She finally looked at what Yugi was doing and gasped. He was battling a young girl, probably still in elementary school.

Tristan, who stood beside her gasped. "Oh man, that little girl has the upper hand."

Téa didn't understand what he was talking about until she compared the life points between the two duelists. She let out a small surprised gasp. How was that possible?

Joey, on his part, had quieted down as he studied the scene before him, trying to figure out the moves that got Yugi in this position. Unfortunately, he wasn't too familiar with fairy type cards so he was at a loss when he saw the mountains upon mountains of rabbits on the field.

The little girl spoke up, not bothered one bit by the new spectators who had arrived. "I activate my spell card which only allows a hundred monsters on the field."

Yugi and the rest of his crew furrowed their eyebrows, confused about such a move as, nearly half the rabbits disappeared. However, she was still left with dozens to cushion her defense.

"I have ninety-eight monsters on my side. You have two. That totals to a hundred. If you want to add anymore monsters to the field, you will have to destroy at least one of mine," she paused to let the realization sink into her opponent, "but you can't do that because my bunnies will always regenerate before you can put down another monster card."

Yami glared at the pink-haired school kid who had successfully ensnared him in her trap. How did she know about the requirement that it took three monsters to summon a God Card? How did she even know he _had_ a God card? He only attained it a week ago and still hadn't actually used in a duel. The news shouldn't have gotten out at all unless Kaiba said something. But that didn't sound like something Kaiba would do. The man had his limits to what he was willing to do to win.

No, this girl was something else. Something he hadn't expected at all. She had him entrapped and he didn't know what to do. He either needed a spell or trap card that invalidated hers. But how long would it take for him to reach those cards in his deck? It was a battle of time at this point. She would chip away at his life points little by little and he had to withstand it until he found the right card. A sweat drop rolled down his forehead. To the untrained eye, Yami seemed as stoic as ever, unfazed by the predicament he found himself in. But Yugi knew it was different story underneath. He put a comforting hand on the man's shoulder.

"It's alright, Yami. Believe in the heart of the cards."

The dark spirit gave a small nod of acknowledgement. He looked down at his deck and he bit back a gasp of surprise. The next card he was due to draw seemed to be shining, calling—almost yearning—for him to draw it. Yugi noticed it too as his attention was solely on the card.

Yami placed two fingers on the card and withdrew it tentatively, as if it would crumble in his hand with too much pressure. When he finally turned it over, he didn't hold back a gasp this time. He'd never seen a card such as this. For one, most of the card stats had been blank and for two, there was a striking goddess-like beauty of the figure in the card. There was no way of knowing if this card was a monster or spell card. The only clue to what the card could do was the instruction to activate it.

Yami steadied himself. He had nothing left to lose. He placed the card on his duel disk. Slowly, the card appeared on the arena. One second felt like a hundred as Yugi and his friends watched the figure appear on the field. She was even more beautiful in real life even though she was still only a hologram.

Joey almost fell back, "wait I've never seen that card in Yugi's deck before."

"It's so lifelike," marveled Téa. She was in awe of the celestial being in front of her. Her hair was shining under the sunlight. Her sailor skirt did nothing to hide her long, toned legs that any dancer would be jealous of. Her eyes were a clear cerulean like the skies hanging over them. The woman who appeared from the card had a small, pointed nose and lush pink lips. If she had been real, Téa supposed she would have had men lining up to just get a glimpse of her.

It seemed that Tristan had a similar line of thought because all that came out of his mouth was a breathless "wow."

Yami, reminding himself that he was still amidst a duel, broke out of his mesmerized trance and said the only command knew.

"ATTACK!"

The sailor-clad soldier raised her scepter and held it in front of her with both hands. She began spinning her weapon as light gathered at the jeweled top. As she continued to spin her weapon, everyone watched with a bated breath. Everyone but Yugi. Yugi seemed to be the only one who noticed that she was crying. Rivulets of tears streamed down her cheeks as she span her weapon. It was a somber sight, one that made Yugi's heart clench in pain and sympathy.

"Yami, I think there's something wrong! We should st-" but the boy was cut off from trying to alert the ancient spirit of his worry by an echoing cry.

" _Silver Moon Crystal Power!"_

The god-like being had stopped spinning her staff and pointed it directly at her pink-haired opponent. A burst of blinding white light exploded from the scepter and blew away all the opponent's monsters, bunnies and all. The bunny girl's life points dwindled to zero in the blink of an eye. The energy from the blast not only blinded the spectators but blew them a couple of feet away as well. Yami and friends were knocked off their feet.

Everyone, except for the pink haired girl, had been shielding their eyes from the explosion of light. She faced the tearful gaze of the silver haired soldier. A wistful smile painted her face. She brought a small thumbs up and gave the beauty a soft reply that no one could hear.

"Good luck, moon mama." And with that Rini, the pink-haired bunny girl, disappeared into the light. All evidence that she was there went with her. There was no duel disk, no deck, no large cat ball with a moon on its forehead.

When the light finally subsided, Yami was still on the ground, clutching his head due to a headache caused by the energy from the blast. It was odd. It seemed as if the blinding attack was meant for him as well. With his eyes still shut, his counterpart frantically floated around him. He could hear sounds from his duel disk that signaled that the duel was over. That meant that the one attack from the mystery card dealt more than 3000 points worth of damage. Astounding, he had never seen such a card like that. He wondered if he would ever encounter something like that again.

As his duel monsters and spell cards dissolved from the field, Tea, Joey, and Tristan slowly got their bearings back. They slowly opened their eyes to discover something so shocking that they were rendered immobile. The last card that Yugi had summoned was still standing on the field. Maybe it was a glitch in the hologram system, but Yugi's opponent had disappeared and all other monsters had dissolved as well. There was no way for her to still have a form in this world.

"Yugi," Joey yelled, "look! Your card's still there!"

Still reeling from the migraine he was experiencing, he couldn't hear the commotion his friends were making.

"Yami, let's switch. I can take it from here," the once anxious boy said definitively, leaving no room for argument in his tone. Yami acquiesced and switch the positions of their souls so now Yugi was back in the driver's seat again. When he returned to his spirit form, he found that his headache was ebbing away and his senses were coming back to him. Both he and Yugi rose from the ground to look at the aftermath of the battle.

When both their sights narrowed to the silver-haired woman who was inexplicably still on the field, they finally understood what their friends had been yelling about. Tentatively, they made a step towards the silver beauty.

As if sensing their intention, the mystery card monster turned around to face them. There were still tears latched onto her lashes, threatening to fall. Upon realizing the woman's tears, Yami felt a stab of guilt. Had he forced her to do something she had been unwilling to do? But how could he have known? Cards didn't have will. At this point though, all witnesses to the mystery being's sentient appearance, from her tears to her movement came to the conclusion that she was not a simple card monster.

The sailor-suited girl opened her pink lips just a fraction, as if to speak, but without warning, collapsed onto the ground with a thud. Tea had yelped as she was the closest to the woman. A final tear rolled down her face to be absorbed into the ground below.


	3. Stuck in a Wishing Well

Yearning for the Moon Podfic can be found on **soundcloud**

Follow my tumblr **lunalitmedia** for fanart !

* * *

"Well, what do we do now?" Joey asked the group, but it felt more like he was talking to the air from the lack of responses he received.

Tea was the only one with enough courage to get close enough to the fainted girl to lightly poke her arm. "She's real alright."

Everyone flinched when she had done so, expecting the strangely dressed woman to spring back to life.

Being the voice of reason in the group, Tea continued, "well, we can't just keep standing around, staring at an unconscious girl like this. We have to do something or else we're going to attract attention."

Tristan threw an index finger up when an idea popped up into his head, "wait, what if we take her to Kaibacorp? Maybe Kaiba has something to do with this. It was his dueling-hologram system afterall. What if this is just a glitch in the system?"

Tea looked at the brunette incredulously, "what kind of glitch allows a monster card to attain a body?"

"If that's true, I'm glad Yuge didn't summon Slifer," Joey chimed in. They all shuddered at the thought of the gargantuan two mouthed dragon flying through Domino City.

"Wait, where is the little girl?" Yugi scanned the park for any glimpse of pink, but to no avail.

"Guess she left during the light show," Joey commented offhandedly. They all decided to drop the matter and return to the more pressing one at hand.

Yami, with his eyes still on the unconscious girl, finally disclosed what he had seen last night in the Muto household. "I saw your grandfather slip a new card into our deck last night when you weren't looking. Maybe he knows something."

"Wait!" Yugi looked at the spirit possessing him offendedly, "why didn't you say something about this earlier?"

"I thought it was a simple trap or spell card. There was no way I could it have known it was something like this," the dark spirit tried to defend himself. Hearing the sincerity in his voice, Yugi decided to let the ancient spirit off the hook and turned back to his friends.

"I think my grandfather might know something about this. He just got a new shipment of cards in yesterday. Maybe this card _accidentally_ came into my deck," he said, clearly meaning to direct the sentence at Yami. "So let's take her back to Grandpa's shop," Yugi finished.

"Well, that's the first real suggestion I've heard," Tea said, "come on, Joey, help her onto Tristan's back."

The process of lifting the passed out woman was uncomfortable to say the least. The group couldn't help but feel self-conscious about transporting a comatose woman around. When Joey grabbed the girl under her shoulders and lifted her onto Tristan's back, both men were surprised about how light she weighed.

"Wow, it's like her bones are hollow," Tristan commented while adjusting her on his back. Yugi went ahead to pick up her forgotten staff, hand prickling at the power still thrumming through it.

The sun had dipped beneath the horizon by the time they made it back to Yugi's grandpa's shop, what with trying to avoid the busier streets of the city. The remaining rays of the sun basked the shop in a soft, orange glow.

The group made the trek upstairs and entered the spiky-haired teen's living room. Tristan kneeled before the couch and carefully maneuvered the still sleeping girl onto it. She fit snugly onto the furniture piece with her hands folded across her stomach. Some of her hair spilled off the side of the couch, creating a silver, flowing river onto the floor. The slumbering silver-haired woman looked so out of place in Yugi's plain, domestic living room. Looking at the soft rise and fall of her chest, Yugi likened her to a princess meant to be encased in glass.

Tea looked at the guys in the room to ask their next step, but she scoffed judgingly when she saw that their eyes all seemed to be fixated on the silver-haired beauty's shapely legs. Without a word, she grabbed a blanket she saw on a nearby chair and covered the woman. All the men in the room shifted their gaze away, guilty of having been caught staring. Even Yami coughed, feeling embarrassed that he, too, was entranced by the woman's beauty even though no one could technically see his spiritual form.

After taking her winged glass shoes off, Tea wondered what kind of girl wears glass heels as her fingers ran along the smooth glass. But then she remembered that this woman appeared out of a monster card and dismissed the thought. Blame the designer, not the model. Glancing at her wristwatch, she saw that it was well passed the time she was expected to return home from their day out.

"Whoops, looks like I have to go home before my ears fall off from another one of my mom's lectures," Tea said, breaking the awkward silence in the room.

"Oh shit," exclaimed Joey, "my dad's gonna rip me a new one."

"Damn, I gotta head back to," Tristan added. Looking over to Yugi, "call us if anything happens."

They all said their goodbyes before the three headed down the stairs to headout.

Joey looked backed to the lit room on the second floor from which they had just left. "Do you think he'll be fine?"

Tea glared at Joey pointedly, "oh please, out of the three of you, he's the best candidate for the job. I wouldn't trust the two of you with an unconscious woman."

Offended, Tristan shot back, "what does that mean?"

"I saw the way you guys were looking at her legs," she accused.

"We're guys, Tea, that's what we do."

"Ugh," spat the disgusted girl.

They began to walk back home, bickering along the way. Yugi sweatdropped, hearing their skirmish from inside his house.

"So what do we do now before my grandpa gets back," Yugi pondered.

"Perhaps we should look at the card again," Yami suggested, "maybe it can provide us with more clues."

Yugi pulled out the deck from the holder on his hips and shifted through the cards. He went through half the deck until he found a card that captured his attention. It was a blank card essentially. No attributes, power lever, or attack points. It was alike the silver-haired maiden's card except even the picture was empty now.

"How is this possible? Did she _literally_ come out of the card?" Yugi asked.

"This is similar to when Pegasus trapped souls of your grandfather and Mokuba into the cards." Yugi winced at the memory. Yami apologized, not meaning to rub a sore wound.

"Do you think Pegasus is doing something like that again?"

"No, I think after what happened at Battle Kingdom, he's become more subdued. And I don't feel any dark energy from this card. In fact, it's quite the opposite. There is a residual light energy emanating from it," Yami explained, still perplexed. He didn't know if "light" was the correct term to what he should use. But it did feel like the opposite of darkness.

"Perhaps...we could try to put her back in the card?" Yami said in an unsure tone.

"What?" Yugi's mouth dropped open at the idea.

"Well, I don't see any other option of trying to figure this situation out. If she's trapped, we can always summon her again."

Yugi looked doubtful but the spirit had a point. There didn't seem to be anything else to do other than waiting. Who knows what she would do when she woke up? Or if she woke up for that matter.

A bit flustered now, Yugi approached the woman with the blank card and hovered it around her.

"Maybe you should place it on her."

Blushing now at being at such proximity to the woman, he touched her shoulder with the card. It felt incredibly inappropriate to do such a thing to an unconscious person, especially a woman. But Yugi continued on with his prodding. He placed it on her forehead and then her cheek.

Yami would daresay that he would have possibly laughed at such a comical scene if they were in different circumstances. Yugi's eyes suddenly came to the brooch she wore on her chest.

He took some time to examine it. It was polished and diaphanous, much like the rest of the outfit. It had tendrils curling out of each corner like a compass. Now that Yugi was staring so intently at the brooch, Yami found himself examining it as well. Using his spiritual senses, he could grasp an energy emanating from the brooch. It was powerful, too, but it was as if it was shrouded by a heavy curtain. His curiosity was piqued. What would be needed to lift such a heavy curtain? Inexplicably, he felt himself being drawn to the mysterious brooch.

When Yugi reached out his hand to place the card on the brooch, he almost leapt out of his skin at what happened next. Without any notice, the sailor-suited soldier shot up from the couch, taking a large gulp of air on the way up. She was now sitting on the couch with one hand clutching her brooch, instinctively protecting it.

The silver-hair maiden took several, quick breaths, as if she just almost drowned, and broken the surface and finally tasted sweet air. Her eyes were shut tight, like she was too afraid to let the light pass her eyelids. Yugi fell backward, speechless.

Then the worst thing happened. The mysterious woman started crying. It was as if a faucet inside her had turned on and there was no sight of it stopping soon. Tears streamed down her face and at that moment, all memory of the powerful soldier who blasted away the monsters on the field with a swipe of her staff flew away.

Now all that sat in front of the two souls inhabiting one body was a fragile doll. It was like she was made of the most fragile of porcelain. Beautiful to look at, but the moment she was touched, she would break into a million pieces, never to be put back together once more. Yugi didn't know which idea terrified him more: that this was actually a dueling card come to life or that someone was trapped inside one.

Yugi rose up on his knees. He was flustered because this was the first time he had ever been in the presence of a crying woman, but his natural sympathy called him to put a hand on her shoulder in attempt to calm her.

"It's okay. It's okay. Take in a deep breath. In and out. In and out. "

The recently revived woman seemed to understand what he was saying as she did as he instructed, taking in a deep a breath and letting it out.

"What's your name?"

The woman paused, almost as if she was at a loss. Her eyes were still closed, but they weren't as tight as before. Her facial expressions were more relaxed now. Yugi could discern eye moment beneath her eyelids, as if she were searching for an answer in the crevices of her mind.

Her lush lips opened to speak.

"Serenity."

For the longest time, the being who called herself Serenity felt trapped. The space that she existed in was two-dimensional. But how would she know what three-dimensions felt like. An answer came from a place where she couldn't identify: it just didn't feel flat.

How did she get here? Wait, how did she even know that there was even a _there_ to come from? There was only emptiness when she tried to get an answer again. It was as if a thick, glass wall separated her from all the answers she wished to get to. The glass wall was opaque, blocking her from seeing what laid beyond. Or was it actually _shielding_ her? As much as she wanted to bang against the glass wall, willing it to shatter and reveal the truths she desperately craved, another part of her, the weaker, cowardly part, told her that she shouldn't. It was if it knew that if the glass wall shattered, so would she.

So she waited for something else to rid her from this darkness. Time was not really of the essence in here. In fact, time did not really even exist. But she waited as if it did. When she finally saw a crack in the abyss, she didn't know if she was ready to take the plunge. But the decision was made for her. A large hand grabbed hold of her body and dragged her out of the darkness and into the light.

When she finally opened her eyes to all the colors around her, it momentarily blinded her. Suddenly, two truths became irrevocably clear to her. Her name was Serenity and she had a mission. She felt an energy pulse beneath her skin in response.

All sights and sound entering her senses were filtered. It was like being underwater. She couldn't even discern the scene that was a foot away from her. It was all so blurry. Blues. Green. Various shades of grey. One color stood out though: a shade of pink.

This particular hue of cherry blossom pink drew out a sense of a familiarity. A sadness ripped through her, strong enough to tear at the delicate seams holding her together. Tears flooded her eyes before she could even realize it. Why was she crying? She didn't know. _She didn't know. She didn't want to know._

The glass wall thickened.

 _ATTACK!_ The muddled word entered her ears and slithered into her mind as an afterthought. But her body went into autopilot. She did know how to attack after all. She channelled the energy that was pulsating throughout her body into her staff. Serenity yelled out words she didn't know she knew.

" _Silver Moon Crystal Power!"_

The light that exploded from her weapon blinded even her. When her eyes opened again, she realized that things were no longer blurry. Something inside and outside of her called her to turn around. Her body twisted slowly, as if this was the first time in a long while that it had been truly under her control.

Her eyes fell upon a spiky-haired man who she knew did not belong in this world. Why did she know that? A voice inside her answered: _because you don't belong here yourself_.

She blacked out, entering the darkness once more.

This time the darkness was not as welcoming. The black, glass wall, which once had stood vertical, lied on its side. Now it was more of a blanket, and she the unwilling victim trapped under it. It was slowly coming down on her. She was supine, trapped between the floor beneath her and the unrelenting glass. The silver-haired woman banged against the wall, growing heavier by the minute. A sense of hopelessness flooded her. She was suffocating.

" _NO!"_ Her voiceless cry pierced the air, " _there's something I have to do. Something that_ only _I can do!"_

With that realization, she tore herself out of the darkness.

When the sailor-soldier finally returned to consciousness, her lungs sucked in air like a vacuum. But the panic she felt from before still seized her core and her body seemed to take a mind of its own. Her lungs expanded and constricted under no command of her own. Tears once again flooded her eyes and she couldn't comprehend why.

"Breathe," a voice called out to her. While her body did not seem to want to listen to her, maybe it would listen to this voice, this kinder voice.

Thankful for his instructions, which had allowed her to retain control of her body, she gave her his name. One of her many names.

Serenity finally opened her eyes. When she did, she realized she was still clutching at her brooch, tightly enough that its sharp crystalline tendrils were causing her pain. She let go, albeit reluctantly, and felt the pain ebb away. The woman once trapped inside of a monster card turned to look at the source of the voice that ease her way back into the world of light.

An unknown force seized her at the sight of what lied in front of the sailor-suited warrior.

"What are you?" she asked in a quivering tone.

The figure looked confused at the question. "W-what am I? I'm human?" He was unsure of his reply, inadvertently turning his answer into another question.

"No," her eyes narrowed at the bundle of darkness floating inches to the left of him, "what are _you_?"

Both spiky-haired figures widened their eyes in shock at the revelation that this mysterious woman could see the spiritual form of Yami. This was the first time in a couple of millenia that someone other than the bearer of the Millenium Puzzle could see him.

Still paralyzed with shock, Yugi was unable to react to what happened next. In the blink of an eye, the silver-haired beauty grabbed her staff lying at the edge of the couch and kicked Yugi in the ribs, incapacitating him. Her movements were swift and controlled, almost as if she had been through years of training to reach this kind of deadly precision. The smaller boy landed on his back, a few feet away from his original position by the couch. The woman now had her feet on either side of Yugi and her pointed staff to his throat. He gulped and the sailor soldier watched sternly as his adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"Don't worry, kind boy. I will get rid of this darkness plaguing you once and or all."

With a surge of protectiveness over his ward, Yami rushed to his side, mentally urging for the two to switch places. The small gale that overtook their body was enough to surprise their long-haired captor. In the short moment that she closed her eyes to the gust, Yami swiped his legs to knock the woman over. Now it was he with the upper hand. With no weapon of his own to hold the warrior down, he opted to use his hands. He trapped her by holding down both of her wrists down by her the sides of her head. With Yami's larger stature, he had no trouble using his legs to pin her down by the waist as well. Noticing that her staff was at the tip of his foot, he kicked the weapon across the room, far from both of their reaches.

Now that he had her in his grasp, he began studying her. Her eyes were not only cerulean blue, but speckled with dashes of silver in the irises. He didn't have time to acknowledged that she was also scrutinizing him as his gaze glided lower. To her small, pointed nose. To her lips, currently alluringly glossy from her unmindedly biting them. She unfortunately stopped biting her bottom lip when she noticed that his hooded gaze was transfixed to that portion of her face. The entrapped woman promptly drew back her lips in a tight-lipped, harsh expression, indignant that he had the audacity to ogle her while he held her captive. He continued to examine her beneath his lashes despite her annoyance of him doing so.

On Serenity's part, one could say she was less than happy to find herself in such a predicament. She had been biting her lips out of frustration at being entrapped moments after waking up. The captured beauty tried to glare into her jailer's eyes only to discover orbs of scarlet rivalring the purest rubies the world had to offer. Knowing that his hard gaze was aimed only at her made her feel powerless and something else that had heat coiling at the pit of her stomach. There was no denying that this man's threat also lied in his undeniable attractiveness. Lying caged beneath him, Serenity had no other option than to bear witness to the strength generated by the rippling muscles beneath his skin. The heat generated by the man above her was unbearable as it became trapped between the two. The heat in his eyes, even moreso. The maiden was terrified at what this brooding man had in store for her.

Although she did not know it, the dark spirit seemed to be as completely entrapped by her as she was by him. All his senses could focus on was her. His ears attuned to her soft, rapid breaths. His fingers on her even faster pulse on her wrists. His body searing at the places where it met with hers. Yami and his uncooperating body was entranced by the beauty that he held at his fingertips. He was fully aware of the soft, feminine curves paralyzed beneath his own hard body. But he was wholeheartedly powerless on top of her. Did she know that she held the upper hand merely due to the sight of her?

Trying to retain some semblance of control, he spoke with a voice several octaves lower than before, "If you would just stop trying to pierce whatever moves with your staff-"

"I wasn't going to pierce anybody. I only wanted to purify-" her words were cut when Yami maneuvered for both her wrists to be held down by one of his large hands. With his free one, he drew it to encase her chin with his fingers. His thumb was just centimeters away from her frozen lips. Serenity's face flushed at the new development and the Pharaoh thoroughly enjoyed the effect he had on the silver-beauty.

"Now, now, you lost your chance to speak when you held a weapon millimeters away from Yugi's throat," he said, his protectiveness for his young ward flaring.

As if calling the devil with one mention of his name, Yugi appeared out of the puzzle in his spiritual form. Looking at the scene before him, he immediately flushed in embarrassment.

"Yami! What are you doing with my body?!" he cried out.

It seems that poor timing was a genetic disposition for the Muto lineage, because at that moment, Solomon's footsteps could be heard from the stairs.

"Hey, Yugi. I heard a commotion up here just when I got in the door. What's going on?"

He ran passed the stair railing to be confronted by the most shocking scene he had bore witnessed to in all his years of life. His once sweet, innocent, wide-eyed grandson was currently pinning a girl down to the floor. When had his grandson become such a scoundrel? It was like his baby-faced grandson had grown overnight. He even looked like he had grown a few inches. The shock was just too much for the old man to comprehend and he promptly fainted onto a sofa chair that cushioned his fall.

Frantically, Yugi cried out "grandpa!" before rushing to his side.

Knowing that the older Muto had the heart of a bull and that it would take much more to take the man down, Yami returned his attention to the beauty underneath his grasps.

"I am not some common devil possessing this body," the dark spirit began, "Yugi Muto has granted me access to his body and in return, I have saved him and his friends countless times."

He mulled, trying to find the right term for their relationship. "It's symbiotic," he said at last.

Making sure that his grandpa was indeed alright, Yugi floated over to the pair to corroborate the ancient spirit's story. "It's true. I'm very grateful for all that Yami has done."

Hearing the earnestness in his voice, Serenity shifted her gaze to him. Yami mourned the loss of her attention.

"If that's true, why do I sense a dark energy around you?"

"My soul is simply dark. But darkness does not equate to evilness," the dark spirit said, drawing from an ancient wisdom he could not find the source off.

Confusion fleeted across the sailor soldiers face. This new information challenged everything she knew about light and darkness. Her powers drew from the light so naturally, was it not her job to expel darkness? Wasn't this the mission she was sent on? To rid the world of all darkness. But the man above her seemed to be the antithesis to her own existence. Darkness wrapped around him like a cloak but he seemed to use his powers to protect those important to him. How could someone so tainted do such a thing as protect another?

Hesitantly, she drew her lips to form a soft apology, an action that neither of the two spiky-haired figures expected. The taciturn woman beneath Yami was like a completely different person than the warrior who had him by the throat before. The ancient spirit wondered briefly, perhaps this was part of her beguiling facade.

With a sincere doe-eyed look, she said, "I apologize...I swear I won't attack you anymore. Scout's honor. Now, will you let me go?"

He clicked his tongues twice. The inner part of him who loved to play mind games reared its head out. His crimson eyes sharpened and perhaps it was a trick of the light, but a blood red tint seemed to fill the orb. Being forced to look into the man's eyes was mesmerizing. It was like falling deeper and deeper into a swirling wine glass, never to break the surface again. Serenity was drunk at the sight of Yami and she didn't mind. Whether he realized it or not, the shadows surrounding the ruby-eyed man flared and its dark tendrils began to wrap around the silver hair beauty, licking at her naked skin. She shuddered beneath him. The Pharaoh relished at the reminder that she was indeed trapped in his hold.

In a predatory tone, the dark spirit said, "well I've told you about me. I think you should return the favor and tell me about yourself. It's only polite. So what are _you_? Why were you in a monster card?"

Her brows furrowed in a perplexed expression, "what's a monster card? All I remember before you summoned me was that I was trapped in a dark void. I don't know how long I was in there or why."

Now that she said it aloud, confusion flooded her thoughts. Why _was_ she there? Why couldn't she remember anything before the moment she woke up? Serenity closed her eyes and tried to unearth the memories she sworn she had, but the wall resurrected in her mind, blocking all attempts of her search for her memories. Frustrated, she started mentalling slamming on the walls, willing it to shatter, to reveal the truth to her. But the barrier was unrelenting. The only effect her banging caused was that an air of sadness began to permeate the wall, saturating her in melancholy.

 _Could the barrier be protecting me from the truth?_

The effect was almost instantaneous. She could feel the tears well up inside her but she had no strength to hold them back so she let the dam burst. Tears flooded her tear ducts and ran its course across her watery eyeline to make its way down her lovely face.

"I-I think," she choked between sobs, "I lost something very important to me."

Yami considered himself to be very good at reading people, at seeing _through_ them. He simply didn't know enough about this girl to decide whether she was lying or not, but the hurt painted on her face was too raw for him to disbelieve her. And even he wasn't as heartless as to make a crying maiden uncomfortable. Immediately his shadows retreated their invasion from the outer-edges of Serenity's bright soul. He relinquished his hold on the silver-haired beauty. Instantaneously, he missed the feel of her warmth and presence beneath his.

She drew herself up on her knees and wiped her away her tears though a few stray ones were still caught at the tips of her long lashes. The ancient spirit yearned desperately to wipe the stray tears away but held himself back.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused. Let me make it up to you."

Without any hesitation, she rose and walked towards the passed out elder. Both Yami and Yugi watched her steps with trepidation. She was a foot away from where the older Muto slept on the chair when she held a hand up to him. A warm, gentle light emanated from her palm. The older Muto's face relaxed and even started snoring. They couldn't understand how she'd done it but both males knew that she had healed him.

"Sorry for scaring your grandfather like that. I just healed him from any shock to his system. All his sores and aches should be gone too." Serenity gave him a small smile. Yami was transfixed at the sight.

The white sailor suited woman turned around, now laying her eyes on Yami. Every muscle of the darker spirit's borrowed body tensed, suddenly very aware of his existence.

"I should heal you, too. That was quite a kick I had dealt earlier."

Now that she mentioned it, since the adrenaline from the earlier incident had ebbed away, a jabbing pain was spreading across his lower abdomen.

"Can you change back into your other form? My powers still aren't strong enough to work directly with dark energy," she gestured to the area around Yami, which he guessed was his dark-tainted aura.

With another whirling gust, the ancient spirit relinquished his possession of Yugi's body. Now it was the younger, much more innocent and naive spiky-haired Yugi on the floor. Serenity approached him and kneeled at the spot next to him. Her presence brought a spring-time air to her. He couldn't help but blush at their close proximity. The maiden brought out a hand once more and held it in front of his stomach and a similar light pulsated from her hand.

Now that both men were mere inches away from the source, they were wrapped in a gentle, and warm light. It was almost protective, the way the light had enclosed around them. Within seconds, Yugi's injury had disappeared and Serenity gave him a benevolent, serene smile at his shocked expression. Yami could not help but be drawn to the peaceful, kind smile that the smaller boy had the luck of receiving.

The spell-bounding healer rose up once more and seemed to begin saying something, but a wave of nausea hit her. Before she could fall to the ground, the smaller Yugi caught her. With her head cradled in his arms and hair spilling between his fingers, she gave him a dazed look.

"It seems…" her eyelids started to droop like curtains, "I've used quite a bit of energy today." And with those words, Serenity entered another deep slumber.

Yugi sweatdropped. He chuckled nervously, "well, Pharaoh. An amnesiac with mysterious powers tips the scale for weirdness. I have to say though, this comes pretty close to discovering you in the Millenium Puzzle."

With his attention still on the sleeping woman, Yami only smirked in response.


	4. Chapter 4: Upon Broken Wings

Yami couldn't sleep. Well, not exactly "sleep." Spirits didn't necessarily do that. Typically, when Yugi went to bed, he would enter the Millenium Puzzle and rest up there. Spirits needed a break too. If he didn't feel like lounging around in the artifact, he would look over the dueling deck and devise new strategies. But tonight, there was only one thing on his mind. Not a thing, _a person_. And she was one room across from him.

The ancient spirit couldn't explain the exact reason for his tumult right now. Every part of his being seemed to be called towards her. He had never had such a feeling before and it was disconcerting to say the least. Her hair. Her eyes. Her power. She was just so _beautiful_. In every sense of the word.

Yami believed in fate. I mean, how else would one explain the chance that the puzzle containing his soul fell into the hands of his reincarnation. Luck could win card games sometimes. But there was no way that it was just luck that brought Yugi and Yami together. Fate had her hands tangled within Yami's life, but he hadn't minded. He needed all the help in trying to find his memories.

So why then did fate send down this goddess of a creature to him? The dark soul could figure out a dueler's entire strategy with a drop of a hat, but for the life of him, he couldn't even begin to understand the mysterious goddess. It seemed that everything, from the air to the moonlight, was inexplicably drawn towards her. He couldn't blame the elements for wanting their fill of her, he certainly couldn't help but wish for a similar fulfillment. Yami craved to decipher the tendrils of power constantly weaving and unweaving themselves within her being. She was right to feel apprehensive about the darkness inhabiting him. It simply wanted to devour the light bursting from her soul. Paradoxically, the darkness simultaneously desired to worship her radiance, as did he. He would have done anything in his powers to cease all her tears. If she required the world, he would have found a way, no matter how implausible it seemed. Because what was more impossible than making the ancient spirit feel the way he did after five millenia.

Absentmindedly, he drifted to the walls separating him and the silver-haired maiden. One good thing about not having a corporeal body: one can be as quiet as a mouse. Yami was now floating a foot away from the couch, scrutinizing the youthful face of Serenity. It was odd. Even though she looked young, the memories of her eyes told a different story. Her eyes seemed hardened by countless battles. But there were times when he could see a sort of overflowing benevolence pouring from those ocean blue eyes. He couldn't understand how those things could exist in one person. It was a paradox.

He remembered the smile she had given Yugi after she healed him. It sounded impossible, but her smile was even warmer than the light she had given off. He hated to admit it but he would give anything to be at the receiving end of that smile and he didn't understand why. What were these feelings? Why was he like this towards a stranger who would have taken him out without a second thought?

Before he could think anymore, a voice cut through the night.

"Are you supposed to be the watchman?"

The spirit flinched, not expecting the slumbering woman to awaken.

"I apologize for disturbing you," he said, feeling a bit abashed for having been caught staring at her for the second time that night. A light blush colored his cheeks and he was grateful that the darkness shrouded his embarrassment.

"It's a bit hard to sleep when your dark energy envelopes me like a second blanket."

Serenity rose to a sitting position on the couch with the blanket still covering her lower half. The moonlight leaking through the window bounced off her silver hair and white outfit, making her glow in the unlit room. Now that she had determined that the spirit wasn't an immediate threat, the warrior seemed to regard him with a different set of eyes, analyzing him. He faced her scrutiny with his own.

"So what's your name?" she asked.

"I don't have one."

She pursed her lips. "Everyone has a name."

"I guess I'm one of the unlucky ones without that luxury."

"Didn't the other one, Yugi, call you Yami?"

"It's more of a placeholder."

"Yami means darkness, right? How befitting." Serenity let out a soft exhale of air in amusement and disbelief. "So why are you occupying that boy's body?"

He grew contemplative. Why did he feel this immediate trust for the woman before him? Her disposition was so inviting. Was this one of her many powers? Yami gave in anyway despite his concerns.

"All I remember is that I was once a Pharaoh in ancient Egypt."

"A Pharaoh?!" Her eyebrows shot up in incredulity.

"If you were a Pharaoh, then I must have been a queen," she mused jokingly. Yami pondered at the suggestion. If she were, he wouldn't have been surprised. Serenity held a natural elegance and beauty that captivated all's attention, especially his. It was if the moonlight itself entered the world just to surround her in its presence.

The ancient spirit continued and told her the story of how Yugi's grandfather found the Millenium Puzzle in a tomb in Egypt. He had given the puzzle pieces for his grandson to solve and once he did, Yami awoke from his five millenia slumber and latched onto Yugi. He had protected the younger boy and his friends since.

Serenity hadn't spoken a word since he began his story. She just looked at him with a mysterious look in her eyes. Once he had finished, the maiden gave him a soft smile that he had desperately craved since he first saw it. "So you're a lost soul in this world. Guess that makes two of us." He was shocked by the way her statement stirred a spike of joy within himself. She was right. This was the first time he had met a someone like himself: a being with unexplainable powers and an enigmatic past. Although they were as different as day and night, maybe they could help each other in their journey.

"I can't remember anything other than my name. I don't understand why all I have all these powers either. The only reason I seem to be able to use them is muscle memory alone."

She paused and drew her hand to grasp her brooch gently. Yami's eyes followed the movement. Her eyes fell to her lap. "I have these powers for a purpose though. And I think I came here for a reason, too."

The sailor soldier suddenly turned to look at Yami once more. He was taken aback by the fire he saw in her eyes. The determination welling in it reminded him so much of himself.

"You're the one who summoned me, right? I don't know how long I would have been trapped in that card if you hadn't done so," she gave him another blinding smile, "Thank you for waking me up." Never had Yami been so grateful for putting down a dueling card on the field.

Serenity closed her eyes and gave a toothy grin, giving the visage of the youthful girl. Surprising him once more, her hand reached out in a gesture, beckoning him to shake her hand.

"As gratitude, I, Serenity, Guardian of Love and Justice, would like to offer you my help." She seemed more surprise than he was when the title rolled out of lips. That lavish title seemed to be as much as part of as her own name. She would pocket this discovery for later. Her attention was back to the brooding man before her.

Hesitantly, Yami reached out his arm, forgetting that he did not have a tangible form of his own. When their palms connected, the thing that surprised him wasn't the fact that they could touch. That realization wouldn't come until much later. What was more shocking was the fact that both their foreheads glowed brightly in the darkness. For his, the clear makings of an eye and for hers, a crescent moon, appeared on their foreheads. Memories crossed between the two. Serenity saw glowering pyramids underneath a starry sky and Yami, a grand silver palace. When the light subsided, they were left staring at each other, stupefied.

Breaking the silence, Yami spoke, "guess we have twice the load of mysteries on our plates now."

He was entranced by the twinkling laughter she gave him in response. "I guess you're right."

The first of light breaching the horizon broke the trance between the two lone occupants in the room. "Guess another day is beginning," Serenity said in a soft voice as she traced the light along the horizon, appreciating its beauty.

"You should go back to Yugi. I'll see you two in a bit." And with that, the ancient spirit floated back to his descendant's room, examining the hand that touched Serenity's as he did so. He had _touched_ her. Or was it that she had touched _him_? He didn't mind which way it was. All that matter was that he had felt her intoxicating warmth for himself.

—

Serenity hadn't opened her eyes until hours later when the sun was well into the sky. Yugi didn't have the heart to wake up the slumbering maiden. He spent the morning trying to explain to his grandpa what had happened last night and why there was a mysterious woman sleeping on their couch.

"This is quite strange, Yugi." The boy with gravity defying hair sweat dropped, wondering what his graying grandfather would say if he knew that the soul of an ancient Pharaoh was possessing him.

"Well...can she still stay?" the small boy asked nervously.

The older Muto paused as if to hesitate before bellowing, "Of course she can stay! I'm not gonna put a poor girl out on the streets. We have that unused guest room across the hall from yours."

The young teen let out a sigh of relief. He gave his grandfather a bright smile, "thanks, Grandpa!"

And with that, the tri-colored boy poked his head into Serenity's room to see if she were awake. The woman was clutching tightly at the blanket Yugi had provided, sweat beading at her brows. She was twisting and turning with every passing second and her face was contorted in pain. The teen hurriedly went over to shake the dreaming maiden awake, hoping that she wouldn't knock him over this time. When he grasped her thin shoulders between his hands, he marveled at how a person could seem so frail and yet wield such power.

Serenity gave a small groan, signaling that she was indeed waking up. She pressed her hand against her forehead as she rose up, wishing her growing headache would disappear. When she finally opened her eyes to see a frantic Yugi beside her, she reassured him with a smile. Yami had manifested from the puzzle at this point, casting a worried gaze at the woman.

"Looks like I was having a nightmare. Thanks for waking me up," the strain in her tone told him that he shouldn't prod further about her dream. Actually, now that things had calmed down, he could finally assess the new addition to his household. It looked like sometime in the night, Serenity had loosened her heart-shaped buns, as now her hair was cascading down her back like a silky, silver waterfall. Mesmerizing as the sight was, the young teen couldn't help but find the sight a bit _intimate_ , so he promptly looked at the floor.

Yami, on his part, did the exact opposite. He was practically drinking in the sight of her, so unguarded. Locks of hair fell to frame her lovely face. What he would have given in that moment to run his fingers through those satiny locks. It was unbearable for him to hold himself back in that moment.

Oblivious to the effect she had on the two occupants, she stood up and threw her arms out to do a full body stretch. With her hair undone from her usual updo, the hair almost reached her ankles. Serenity's growling stomach snapped Yugi out of his stupor and he immediately notified her that breakfast was on the table downstairs. She chirped happily at the prospect of finally eating food after being in stasis for so long.

Calling the teen over, she said, "Wait, Yugi, before you go, do you have a clothing magazine here? I want to change into a different form. This current form takes up a lot of energy." Serenity made a roundabout gesture to her present appearance.

Yugi gave her an odd look, not really comprehending what she was implying but fulfilled her request nonetheless. The woman with mysterious power perused the magazine for a few seconds before zeroing in on an outfit that satisfied her tastes. She dipped her hand into her subspace pocket and pulled out a pink jeweled pen. To the other two occupants in the room, it looked like that pen had literally appeared out of thin air. She tapped an image on the magazine and held the pen up towards the ceiling.

"Disguise Power!" she cried and small balls of light started revolving around the red jewel sitting on top of the pen. In an instant, ribbons of light wrapped around Serenity and temporarily blinded the two men. When they opened their eyes, the woman's outfit completely changed. Her white sailor outfit was replaced by a soft pink off the shoulder blouse topped with a small black ribbon. She still had on a pleated white skirt sans the multi-colored strips at the front.

The most dynamic change was her hair color. No longer were silver-haired locks cascading down her back, but rather two golden rivers trailed down the sides of her head. Her hair still seemed to be weaved of silk though, retaining its soft, shiny look. Instead of heart-shaped buns sitting atop her head, simple spherical ones were secured at the sides. She looked liked a normal schoolgirl, which was a complete 180 degree change from her previous appearance. She was still as beautiful as before, but now imbued with a youthful vitality. Yugi was certain she would still turn a lot of heads.

Uncharacteristically, the young woman held up a peace sign, brandishing a wide smile and looking more her age. "What do you think?"

Yugi recovered from his initial shock and said, "wow! That's a really convenient power!"

Giving him another big smile that had the boy blushing again, she suddenly fisted her hand and hit her other palm, as if a memory just jolted her mind to a stop. "Oh that's right, my name is Serena in this form." It was odd that she would have varying names between the forms, but something just clicked in place when the name had slipped through her lips.

"Serena," Yami said in his deep baritone voice, liking the way the name had rolled off his tongue, "it fits you." The aforementioned woman blushed at the sound of her name from his lips. She couldn't help it. Serena looked at the cross-armed form of the Pharaoh and felt her blood rising, remembering memories from the previous night. Being encaged under his hard form. Burning from the heat brewing between the two. It seemed that in this form, she had much less control of her emotions and was unable to maintain the graceful stoicness that her previous form easily managed.

The young girl's reddening did not go unnoticed by the Pharaoh. Even he seemed to notice that she was more vulnerable in this form. "This is going to be fun," he thought as a smirk crossed his face.

The Muto family welcomed the new girl to the dining table without a hitch. Serena's presence was a welcoming addition to the table. Her cheerful personality easily won over the older Muto. It was odd, seeing the shift between Serenity and Serena. While Yugi knew they were the same person, he was surprised that a person could change that much. While Serenity had more of a somber, serious air to her, Serena's smiles and laughter practically invited the sunlight to come into their home. Well, he mused that her character transformation weren't that much different than when he switch places with Yami. He wondered for a second if the silver-haired warrior was perhaps another soul, but the impression of warmth and kindness was still strongly tied to both the bun-head's core. Whatever it was, it was much easier for Yugi to be around Serena, given that he wasn't blushing or avoiding eye contact with her now.

"So Yugi, what are you planning to do today?" the bright blonde chirped.

"Well, I still need a couple more locator cards, so I think I'll go downtown today to duel," Yugi replied.

Serena's face morphed to one of confusion and curiosity as she tilted her head to the side.

"Dueling?"

Yugi and his grandpa looked at the bun-headed girl as if she suddenly grew two horns. "Wow, you must really not be from here if you don't know what duel monsters are," the elder remarked. Serena gave an awkward chuckle in response.

"Well, dueling started out as a children's card game." As Yugi started explaining, his eyes shifted towards the clock. Yugi suddenly jumped up from his seat, almost dropping his toast on the floor. Looking towards the clock, he said anxiously, "oh no! I'm gonna be late for my meet up with Joey, Tea, and Tristan!"

He switched his gaze from the clock to the blonde, "hey Serena, do you want to come with? Maybe exploring the city might jog some memories!" Serena perked up at the idea, a wide smile painting her face.

"Yea! That sounds like an awesome idea!" And with that the two teens were off to the center of Domino City.

Arriving at the streets of the city, Yugi gently hit his head with his palm in disappointment. He sweatdropped, "aww man. I messed up the appointment time. They're not gonna get here for another hour. And it looks like there's barely any other duelists either. I came a bit too early."

Serena gently pat him on the back and gave the spiky-haired teen a reassuring smile. "It's alright, Yugi! The early bird gets the worm!" Serena wondered if that was a bit too cheesy but she hadn't known what else to say.

Chuckling a bit, he nodded. "I guess you're right." Suddenly he remembered her earlier question about duel monsters. "Oh, that's right. I haven't finished explaining to you what dueling is."

He stroked his chin, deep in thought. "Oh I know!" his eyes lit up with an idea, "I'll have the Pharaoh explain it to you. He's great at this kind of stuff!"

The blonde grew confused again and was about to ask what he had meant by that when a sudden gust of wind took her by surprised. Shielding her eyes from the pickup of dust, she was shocked to see the taller form of Yami in front of her once the wind settled. Luckily, there hadn't been many people in the streets to witness the not-so-subtle transformation.

Forgetting himself, Yami immediately started, "Yugi, once again, _this isn't a duel_. How many times are you going to-" The ancient spirit instantly stopped himself when his crimson eyes met with surprised ceruleans'.

His reincarnated self whispered an amused "good luck, Pharaoh" before entering the deeper recesses of the puzzle.

In one of his rare moments of flusteredness, Yami awkwardly raised his hand to give a small wave, "Yo."

Serena would have bursted out laughing at the awkward exchange she had just bore witness to but she was dealing with her own increased levels of flusteredness. In her less guarded civilian form, she was left defenseless in front of the the handsome red-eyed man. His dark aura was not as strong during the day time but it still blanketed her. It was odd. Now knowing Yami a little better, she found his shadowy aura comforting, instead of suffocating. The flush on her cheeks reminded the multi-colored haired man that he had the upper hand in the dance these two were going to entangle themselves into. A small smirk grew on his face.

Regaining his confidence and poise, he gestured towards a parfait shop that Yugi and his friends would frequent after school. Serena, momentarily forgetting her embarrassment, perked up at the idea of sweets.

When they had slipped into a booth and a waitress had gotten their order, Yami pulled out his deck of cards and placed them on the table. He spread them on the surface so Serena could get a good look at each of the card's design. In his baritone voice, he started explaining the mechanics of the game.

"Duel Monsters is a turn based game where you have the option of choosing a monster, spell, or trap card." The flaxen haired girl was listening with rapt attention and followed the scarlet-eyed man's hand movement over the cards intensely. A swell of pride and satisfaction filled him as he was happy that he had captured her attention.

He separated the cards into three rows based on the type. A row of monster cards, followed by spell and trap cards. He explained the card descriptors and what the differences in stats entailed. He chose some of his favorite cards and explained their abilities. When he finished, he asked her, "so do you have any questions?"

"Oh yea! Didn't you say you summoned me from one of these cards? What were my stats?" she asked with intense curiosity lacing her voice.

The ancient spirit's eyes widened in surprise as he now replayed the memory of when he first laid eyes upon her card. A light blush dusted his cheeks as he remembered thinking how beautiful she was. Looking at her now, he couldn't believe she was sitting before him. The being that manifested from the card was even more beautiful than he could have ever imagined. He drew himself out of his stupor. Coughing awkwardly to try to draw away attention from his face, he replied, "well, it was certainly strange. There were no stats or even a card descriptor for you. The card was completely blank save for your picture."

The blonde deflated at the news and Yami wished she had a smile painting her lovely face once again. She quickly recovered though once her eyes laid on one of his dueling cards.

She pointed to the Dark Magician Girl and asked if she could pick it up to get a closer look. Yami nodded his acquiesce giving an low "of course," happy to know that she had chosen one of his favorite cards.

"Oooh, I like this one! She's pink" Yami gave a low chuckle at her reasoning and Serena decided she _really_ liked hearing the sound of Yami's voice. She continued, "and she has blonde hair and blue eyes like me!" Serena held up the card next to her. The man watched the ethereal way the light bounced off her golden threads of her hair. Her ocean eyes glinted in the sunlight as if to further prove the point.

Yami folded his hands beneath his head and gently laid his chin on them. "I suppose you're right," he said as he gave her a soft, yet smouldering look. The blonde blushed, feeling self conscious under his gaze and wondering if she had embarrassed herself once again.

Both were brought out of their reverie when the waitress, dwarfed by the order in her hand, came up to the booth. She placed a colossal ice cream sundae in between the two. It was so huge that the dessert blocked Serena's view of Yami and vice versa. "Ah…" Yami thought as he sweat dropped," that's what the menu meant by ' _Super Special Awesome Deluxe Ice Cream treat._ '"

The bunny like girl enthusiastically started digging into her cavity-causing treat. In between bites, she said, "I've been using my powers so much for the past few days and having just woken up from a god-knows-how-long slumber, I'm quite hungry, _especially for sweets_." She had enunciated the last words with a big bite of chocolate ice cream topped with whipped cream. Her sweet tooth sighed in delight at the burst of saccharine flavor.

A smidge of ice cream streaked across Serena's cheek and without thinking, Yami reached out to wipe it off her face. The couple's breath simultaneously hitched and the blonde's brain had to pull out all the stops to remind Serena to breathe. The place where Yami's thumb met Serena's cheek tingled at the ghost of his touch.

The shocked man drew his hand back tentatively for he, too, just lost control of a body that technically wasn't his to begin with. The pharaoh quickly pulled himself together and looked at Serena with a hardly concealed endearing look, which the girl had not noticed herself as her attention had refocused solely on the ice cream. "So," the alluring man gestured towards the dessert, "are you planning to finish that all yourself?"

He had genuinely meant that as a question, but the blonde misinterpret it it as a request. "Oh! Where are my manners?" she exclaimed with bright blue eyes, "here have a bite!" Serena pulled the spoon that had previously been in her mouth and scooped a small bite-size portion of the strawberry ice cream. The enthusiastic girl pushed the spoon closer to the ancient spirit's surprised face with one hand underneath the spoon to make sure she would catch any drips lest they fell on his precious cards.

At first he was reluctant to have a taste of the offending confectionery treat, but upon glancing at the adorable pleading look of the impossibly blue-eyed girl's face, he gave in and opened his mouth. A barely perceivable blush dusted his cheeks. With the burst of flavor in his mouth, he reckoned that there was never something this sweet in Egypt as sugar was hard to come by in the ancient time. He gazed softly at the bunny girl in front of him and gave his silent approval of the sweet treat. His eyes trailing the soft contours of the bunny girl's lovely face, he surmised that there was something- _or someone_ -even sweeter than the treat melting in his mouth.

The waitress who had served them caught the scene and gushed about the cute exchange. Nothing cuter than a sweet girl melting the hard exterior of a brooding man. The current customer she was taking the order from looked in her line of sight and saw the spiky-haired teen across the diner. His hair was so distinguishable that he almost doubled over in shock. "Wait," gesturing to the couple, "isn't that Yugi Muto, the King of Games?"

"If he is," the brunette server said with a daydreaming look, "he should get the title 'King of Hearts' too."

The young male customer scoffed lightheartedly at the waitress, "seems you're a bit too late. Looks like he's already taken," giving a glance at the beautiful blonde occupant sitting in the same booth as him.

As the couple stepped outside to bask in the bright sunlight, a cloaked figure approached them from behind without either noticing. In a foreboding, dark voice, he crooned, "Pharaoh, do you really have time to be on this little date of yours?" He paused to look at the dainty girl beside the glowering figure of Yami. "Especially when your other friends are moments away from my grasp."

At the mention of his title from an unfamiliar voice, Yami had quickly brought his arm out to shield Serena. She was now standing worriedly behind him as his body acted as a barrier between her and the creepy stranger. With her right side conveniently blocked by the crimson-eyed protector, the masked enemy couldn't see the blonde girl reaching in to her subspace pocket and clutching her brooch. Serena was poised to transform at any second, but paused to scan the area. Seeing that there were dozens of people walking along the street, she knew that it wouldn't be best to change for all the eyes to see. If anything, the sailor soldier could sneak into the back alley to transform, but upon resting her gaze on the broad back of Yami, she couldn't afford to leave him alone to deal with the creep, not even for a second.

In his deep, commanding voice, the ancient spirit of the Pharaoh accused, "Marik, what have you done to my friends?"

The intruder only gave a maniacal laugh in response that cut through the stale air before disappearing in a gust of wind. "Don't be impatient, Pharaoh. We'll see each other soon enough," his promise ringing in the air.

"Yami, what's going on? Who's this Marik?" Serena asked in a concerned voice as she placed a hand on the scarlet-eyed man's shoulder. Brought back to earth by the soft voice of his new ward, he replied, "I think something's happened to my friends. We need to go find them."

Yami quickly summarized the predicament at hand. He spoke of the dangers the mysterious Marik had already put him and his friends through. It was obvious from the way he spoke, that he would never forgive Marik for endangering the lives of the people close to him. The "Rare Hunters" as the Pharaoh called them were dead set on harming anybody who stood in their way. The golden-haired beauty put her hand on his naked arm as he had his jacket hanging on his shoulders, billowing like a cape behind him. His muscles tensed at the heated touch of her soft, unscarred palm. In a reassuring voice, she gave him a hard look that pierced him with her determination, "it's alright, we'll save your friends." His memory flashed to the platinum blonde that had appeared in front of him the first time, fearlessly swinging her staff.

Just as they turned the corner, Serena bumped into something hard. Before her bottom could hit the concrete, the tri-colored haired man caught her flawlessly, holding her close with his muscled arms. Both their bodies seared at the direct skin contact Yami's muscular arm had with Serena's unclothed shoulders. Blushing at the feel of Yami's hard form, she immediately righted herself. Ushering a quiet, embarrassed "thank you," she turned to look at what caused her to fall.

Forgetting all the powers she wielded at her fingertips, the bunny-like girl cowered under the harsh, look of disdain bearing upon her by the newcomer. The stranger's irises were colored a cold, steel blue that cut through her very soul. His large frame easily overshadowed her much smaller form. His hair was an oaky brunette and framed his eyes in a way that made his glare hold the weight of a heavy, steel cage.

Serena was about to grab Yami's arm to turn the pair away from the tall, brooding brunette when a low baritone voice cut through the air.

"Yugi, I never pegged you as a man to involve himself in _these_ kinds of matters," he said in a condescending tone as his eyes held onto the blonde's nervous form.

"You don't like a formidable duelist. Why are you here?" Serena didn't think it was possible, but his voice turned even more patronizing.

Indignation flared through Serena as she shot back, "How would you know? You haven't even met me!" The anger that coiled her insides emblazoned her boldness and it was growing harder by the second to keep her powers under control. She wanted so much to singe the smirk off the man's smug face.

"Please girl, we're not even meeting right now," he rivaled her remark with another wave of haughtiness that astounded the girl.

Not liking the way Kaiba's eyes settled on Serena, the dark spirit bristled at the tall man's uncalled for appearance. "Kaiba, now is not the time. My friends are in danger," he said in a grave tone.

A mixture of shock and confusion flooded the pigtailed girl's eyes as she discerned from the way the two men addressed each other that they were quite familiar with one another. There were too many introductions to friends and foes today and Serena couldn't even begin to understand the mess she had willingly entangled herself into.

"And why do you think I would help you?" Kaiba's comment made the disguised warrior's eyes narrow in anger. If this egomaniac wasn't going to help them, then they shouldn't be wasting another second of their precious time being taunted.

Serena grabbed the Pharaoh's arm, not cognizant of her bold touch, as she could not care about anything other than getting away from the snobbish man. "Let's go," she uncharacteristically commanded.

Just as she was about to pull Yami's figure with her, the whirring sound of helicopter blades slicing the air above them stopped her in her tracks. Three pairs of eyes widened in shock at the scene hovering over them. A small black-haired boy was dangling precariously from a rope attached to the helicopter.

"Mokuba!" For the first time since she met him, the voice that came out of the brunette was something other than condescending. His cry had ripped through the air, impossibly louder than the roar of the helicopter's whirling blades. The worried and pained tone of his voice stroke a chord within Serena and her own heart clenched in sympathy. This man named "Kaiba" didn't deserve to have his loved ones bathed in misfortune, no matter how how far the stick up his backside was.

"Kaiba, if you want your brother back, you'll have to duel for him. Same goes for you, Pharaoh! Your friends are already within my clutches," an ominous voice rang from the speakers of the helicopter. Serena's mind raced to determine her course of action. She could transform right now with wings and all and fly to save the small boy. But the fear of her secret identity being discovered by both Kaiba and the witnesses around them paralyzed her. What if one of the Rare Hunters saw her transformation and reported back to the menacing Marik? The blonde didn't want to be a liability to her newfound friends, especially Yami.

Before she could settle on what to do, the helicopter flew out of sight. The order "meet us on top of the tallest building on this street" was the last thing verbalized through the speakerphone.

Dread filled the insides of Serena's stomach, making it drop inside her body. She had missed her opportunity to rescue Kaiba's hapless brother due to her indecisiveness. The camouflaged superhero knew that out of the three, she was the only one with the necessary powers to save the Rare Hunters' victim and she had stood there and done nothing. What good was the power she was granted if she did nothing? Before her self-depreciation could take her over, Kaiba had shoved between her and Yami to make a mad dash towards the appointed skyscraper. Not missing a beat, the pair followed the brunette.

After a tense and incredibly awkward elevator ride up twelve stories, the trio quickly found their way to a fire escape that led them to the roof of the building. Serena was incredibly thankful that she was the last to climb the ladder as a breeze lifted the folds of her skirt. Yami who had climbed ahead of her offered a hand when she had reached the top. Her hand lingered in the ancient spirit's grasp for a second longer than necessary by either hers or Yami's intention, she hadn't known. Inwardly, she was grateful for the warmth that transferred between the two. She squeezed his hand as a quiet offer of support.

"Hurry up, you two lovebirds," a voice with undisguised malintent called from across the field.

The words broke the pair out of their trance, leaving the two a bit flustered, though the Pharaoh was a bit better at hiding his embarrassment.

The two figures at the opposing end of the field wore a pair of patterned masks. One was a tall, lean man with half a frowning mask on the right side of his face. His partner was a short heavy-set male with a mask painted with a malicious smile covering the left side of his face. Serena didn't need to see their faces to understand that they were as sinister as their masks foretold.

"Pharaoh, you should be familiar with these types of games by now. For the two newcomers, I'll explain how my duels are a bit different from the rest. Each of us is standing on top of a glass panel loaded with detonators underneath. Those unfortunate enough to have their life points reach zero will enjoy a gruesome 130 foot fall."

Standing at the small sliver of concrete of the roof, Serena blanched upon hearing the terms of the game. "I thought this was just a card game," she said in a horrified tone.

"You _really_ must be new to this," the mysterious tone echoed disdainfully, "it's never just a card game, girlie."

The blonde sailor soldier had no retort as the uncomfortable truth settled within her mind. With that said, the Shadow Game promptly begun.

Serena had no inkling at what to expect of the duel. She had wished that her first witness to a duel was under different, non-fatal circumstances. One thing was for sure though, it certainly was a game to behold. Every word and drawing of a card had her heart clenching in anticipation. She recalled Yami's skillful explanation of the game from the morning. Each one of the four players were deftly summoning or destroying their opponent's cards. Well, in actuality, there were five players on the field. Even though the blonde could not hear Yugi's words to the Pharaoh, she could tell that Yami greatly valued his partner's advice. She wondered briefly if she was genuinely the only one able to see his floating figure.

Although the duel monster novice couldn't even begin to comprehend the strategies or predict the next move of any of the men, from the lower life points and disgruntled expression of Kaiba and Yami, Serena discerned that it was the Rare Hunter pair with the upper hand. She could hear the ancient spirit's desperate plea to the taller man that if they were to win, they needed to work together. In the beginning, Kaiba had promptly ignored Yami's suggestions. It seemed like the lone wolf would rather forfeit before working with his long-time rival. But his hubris was causing the whittling down of both his and his partner's life points. The two Rare Hunters' expert partnership ensured that.

Growing too frustrated to keep silent, Serena's yell pierced the tense atmosphere. "Kaiba! Put your ego aside for one second! Are you seriously going to let your pride jeopardize your brother's life?!"

The man widened his eyes at the brazen girl's accusation but kept his back turned to her. Without looking at her, he retorted loudly, "be quiet, meatball head! You don't have to tell me twice!"

Bristling at the obnoxious insult, she was about to give him a piece of her mind, regardless of the situation, but her senses noticed a shift within the brunette's demeanor. Even though she was still watching his back, she could tell that her words had hit a switch within Kaiba. Imperceptibly, he gave the man he called "Yugi" an indiscernible look. Though no words were exchanged, the Rare Hunters and Serena could tell that something did change between the pair.

Slowly but surely, Kaiba grew more receptive to Yami's strategies and it got to the point that they seemed so in sync that Serena thought they could read each other's minds. It wasn't until Yami sacrificed three of his monsters in the truest act of partnership that the blonde woman was left incapable of thought or movement. She hadn't known what to expect when she heard Kaiba yell "I summon Obelisk the Tormentor!" into the blue sky. It just wasn't _this_.

A colossal, unforgiving monster split the sky. Serena had no doubt that it was even bigger than the twelve story building they stood on top of. The voice that tried to remind herself that it was only a hologram projection was drown out by the roar that tore through the cerulean skies. Her knees wobbled beneath its towering gaze. Had there been any space left on the roof, the golden-haired beauty would have fallen on her bottom. Its lipless mouth exposed rows of steel-crushing teeth and blood-red eyes would undoubtedly haunt Serena for nights to come.

With a dramatic hand thrown out towards his unfortunate enemies, the brunette shouted "OBLITERATE!" No one messed with the Kaiba brothers without walking away unscathed. The hapless victim was the shorter man with the frowning mask. Ironically, now his unhidden face matched his mask. His eyes widened in terror as a fist the size of the moon rocketed towards him. He had already fainted before the attack hit him and his monsters. The second his life points dwindled down to zero, the detonators beneath his feet exploded, shattering the glass separating him and his 130-foot-plummet. The man didn't even have the luxury to utter his last words as his body descended into the skyscraper.

Serena had foolishly hoped that the detonators were a lie told to scare the roof's occupants into compliance. How could someone thoughtlessly sacrifice his followers for the sake of a game? Not giving a second thought to who saw her transformation this time, she pulled her silver brooch from her subspace pocket. _Moon Prism Power Make-Up!_ With a tornado of feathers and a flash of blinding light, her pink blouse and pleated white skirt shifted to her white and silver sailor outfit.

Unlike the first time Yami had seen her, Serenity sported large white wings dwarfing the small woman's body. Hundreds of feathers littered the space in which she transformed. As all the hologram monsters, including the towering form of Obelisk, had dissolved with the end of the duel, she was the lone otherworldly figure occupying the roof among the three mortal men. As the sunlight bounced off her white form, she truly looked like an angel that had descended onto the earth. Within the blink of an eye, she zoomed between Kaiba and Yami and dove headfirst into the gaping broken glass panel. She furled her wings tightly into her back so that she could increased her acceleration towards the plummeting Rare Hunter.

Her plunging form was akin to a white bullet. As the air whizzed by her, she couldn't help but think that such a descent was familiar. A flash of cherry blossom pink clouded her mind for just a second. Instead of a purple cloak rocketing downwards, it was a pearl white dress that clung to a small body. Though she couldn't see the figure's face, her body remembered the desperation as every part of her being wished to be reunited with the pink-and-white figure.

Serenity blinked as the wind had dried out her eyes and the visage of the Rare Hunter replaced her previous hallucination. She reached out an arm and once she made sure she had the man in her graspe, she quickly unfurled her wings and gave it a powerful flap to halt their freefall. With several more beats of her wings, they began their ascent to the ceiling. They had been low enough for her to gain enough speed to make a speedy return to the top. Carefully clasping her wings to her body once more, she shot through the panel, wary of the broken glass possibly slicing through her.

When her figure touched the sky once more, she spread out her wings in all of its glory. With her heavenly form eclipsing the sun, the light outlined her sublime form. The sight of the angelic being ripped all words and thoughts out of the three men underneath her. Yami marveled at the sight of Serenity, who had just become even more impossibly beautiful and powerful. Her spread out wings allowed the air resistance to slow her descent and she drifted down to the glass ceiling. The winged being cautiously placed the Rare Hunter on the floor of the roof. She touched his wrist and when she registered a pulse, she rose to announce with a sigh of relief that he was still alive.

Before she could make a move towards Yami, a whistling sound whizzed by her ear. The transformed platinum haired woman could barely register Yami's cry of "SERENITY!" piercing the air as she crumbled to the floor in agonizing pain.


	5. Chapter 5: When Stars Collide

Chapter 5: When Stars Collide

When the first wave of pain ebbed away, Serenity clutched the bundle of feathers near the left side of her waist. She could feel the sickly warmth of blood oozing from the wound. The whistling sound she had heard a second earlier was that of a bullet. Fortunately for occupants of the glass ceiling, the bullet was fired at an angle that it shot into the chasm of the already broken panel.

The platinum blonde woman tried her best to summon her healing powers to the tips of her quivering fingers. But a second wave of pain flooded her senses at the attempt. When her senses cleared for a second time, the adrenaline that had countered the pain allowed her to finally register what was happening around her.

With difficulty, Serenity angled her neck to look behind her. The visage of the terrified Rare Hunter with a gun clutched between his trembling hands would never leave the confines of the woman's memory. "Monster...you're a monster…" he said between shaky breaths. The fear in his eyes at the sight of her was ten times as vast as when he had bore witness to the spine-chilling sight of Obelisk. Her heart saddened tearlessly at the thought that she had scared this man worse than the menacing display of the azure God.

Serenity tried to rise once more and calm the terrified man, but the Rare Hunter's trigger-happy finger was close to firing the gun once more. Her eyes widened in horror once she realized the man's intention. She didn't have enough energy to dodge this one or push anyone out of the way. Shutting her eyes hopelessly, she waited for the sound of the bullet puncturing her body, but it never came. Instead it was the tall Rare Hunter that was screaming and clutching himself in pain.

The sudden surge of darkness from where Yami was standing ripped her attention away from the cries of distress of the man behind her. Her eyes landed on the spiky-haired man. Instead of the clear eyes of the ancient Pharaoh that she had become accustomed to, clouded, ruby orbs looked passed her and zeroed in at his cursed victim. A mysterious eye glowed on his forehead and Serenity remembered the shining symbol from last night when a flicker of memories was shared between the two. The wounded Serenity saw that even Yugi seemed flabbergasted at the Pharaoh's sudden shift in character. He tried hopelessly to pull Yami's arm but to no avail as his spirit formed lacked any tangibility to affect the corporeal world. Even his pleas could not enter the ancient spirit's ears.

Capitalizing on the distraction, she willed her powers to heal the wound. It would only be a temporary reprieve from the pain as she could only afford the time to stop the bleeding. No, her current priority was to stop Yami in his psychic torture of the gunman. The angelic beauty pleaded to the gods that she could put an end to all of this before the Pharaoh did something he regretted.

Serenity wiped the blood off her hand on the whites of her skirt and undid her winged-transformation. Rising on shaky legs, she made a dash towards the Pharaoh and threw her body towards his, toppling him. The soft curves of the now blonde woman met the hard, sinewy form of the Pharaoh. She balled up her fists and willed all the energy left in her body to pound weakly on his chest. "Stop it, Yami! I'm okay!" She shakily held her unbloodied hand up to his face, hoping to both throw off his mental concentration and to prove to him that she was indeed alright.

The haziness in the dark spirit's eyes cleared to reveal shining ruby eyes. The glowing eye atop his brow faded and the agonizing cries of the Rare Hunter ceased and he fell to the floor with a thud. The Pharaoh drew the palm in front of his face to place it on his lips, as if to plant a kiss on Serenity's warm hand. The feel of his lips upon her palm sent a fire through her nerves. Tears welled up at the corners of the sailor soldier's eyes, making her eyes glassy. Glossy, nervous ceruleans met with the burning gaze of crimsons.

Kaiba stood there paralyzed, an unwilling audience to the scene that occured within minutes. First, the blonde girl that he didn't even spare a second glance to when he had first met her transformed into a literal angel. Next, his rival sported a third eye and used some psychic powers to mentally torture a guy. This was too much for the skeptic to process and thankfully, he was saved the task of doing so as his little brother flew the same helicopter that had kidnapped him hours ago aside the skyscraper.

The deafening noise of the helicopter brought the trio out of their stupor. "Hey!" the sound of Mokuba's innocent voice was a welcomed interruption, "you guys need a lift?"

The revolving blades of the aerial machine broke Serenity and Yami's trance. The pair silently got to their feet with Yami assisting the blonde along the way, always keeping an arm around her. He reluctantly broke off their contact to reach for the rope ladder unrolled from the helicopter. The sailor soldier watched the Pharaoh's retreating form, still worried if he was alright. She turned to look behind her at the looming figure of Kaiba. She gestured to the rope, signifying that he should go ahead of her.

The brunette narrowed his eyes at her with something akin to disgust. "There's no way in hell I'm squeezing in next to Yugi."

"Well I can't go before you!" she yelled above the whir of the helicopter blades, "I'm wearing a skirt!"

The owner of Kaiba Corp gave her figure a quick once over and scoffed. "Please, in your dreams." Each drawn out word was dripping with unconcealed disdain.

The small woman felt the flames of anger flare beneath her skin. Her face grew hot in both fury and embarrassment, but another part of her, the logical side, reminded Serenity that there were more important matters at hand than her newfound mission to rip Kaiba a new one. With a humph, she deftly climb the rope ladder, glad to temporarily be rid of the infuriating man's presence. Reaching the ajar entrance of the helicopter, she found Yami's strong, warm hand waiting for her. She grabbed it with wordless gratitude, her face retaining its flush for a different reason.

When Serenity plopped down next to Yami, she winced and grabbed her side. Even though her injured wing did not occupy space in this plane anymore, the phantom wound still pulsed, causing pain to nerves that did not technically exist. Immediately, Yami's eyes widened and reached a hand out to her, hovering nervously over the spot that she was clutching.

"Are you okay?" worry saturating his deep, baritone voice.

She gave him a small, reassuring smile. "I'm fine," Serenity lied. Unconvinced, Yami retreated his hand, but with the one next to the blonde beauty, he entangled their fingers and settled their hands on top of their thighs. Without noticing it himself, he began drawing lazy circles on her hand with his thumb. Serenity's initial guilt with her boldface lie was now replaced by a burning awareness of the scorching heat of Yami's hand.

Serenity didn't have anymore energy left in her reserve to heal the remnants of her injury. Even if she did, it wasn't like she could unfurl her wings in the small, cramp space of the helicopter. She would likely knock Yami and Kaiba out of it. A small flicker of satisfaction passed at the thought of Kaiba falling out of the helicopter.

Her wicked daydream was interrupted by the arrival of said snooty-face dropping down in the seat next to her. As the helicopter seats were originally intended to be a two seater, the trio were currently squeezed uncomfortably together. While Serenity was more than happy, although a little embarrassed, to be bathed in the Pharaoh's comforting heat, she wished that Kaiba's stiff, metal-studded figure wasn't flanking her other side.

"Can't you wear a less pointy outfit?" her voice spat out as the sharp ends of his shoulder pads were jabbing the side of her head.

"Can't you wear a less ridiculous hairstyle?" he pompously retorted.

Readying her voice to break the pitch barrier, regardless of the other occupants in the flying machine, she ceased her intended verbal assault when Mokuba's voice resounded from the front.

"Brother, according to the locator on Joey's dueling disk, he's at the docks where Tea and I were kept," he grimaced at the memory of the teen girl who had selflessly saved him. "We'll get there in about twenty," the younger Kaiba sibling informed.

At the mention of Wheeler's name, Seto suddenly had a flashback to him ranting on and on about helping his sister with paying her operation fees using the prize money from Duelist Kingdom. "Wait…" Seto pondered, "wasn't the dweeb's sister named Serenity?"

He glanced at the blonde girl from the corner of his eyes. She was currently staring into space. Was this girl really the idiotic Wheeler's sister? The two blondes didn't seem to be cut from the same cloth. She sprouted wings and Wheeler...was well, Wheeler.

Breaking the silence, he asked, "Are you Wheeler's sister?" Serena peered at him with furrowed eyebrows, obviously confused at the question.

"Serena's a friend of a friend," Yami answered in Serena's place, sparing her from having to craft up a story on the spot. Just as Kaiba was about to comment that the spiky-haired man had clearly yelled the name "Serenity" earlier, the plane abruptly lurched to the side, throwing everyone towards Yugi. The brunette was able to keep steady by holding onto handle on his side. Serena was not so lucky as she was tossed unceremoniously against the Pharaoh, letting a small squeak as the incident occurred.

The bunny-like girl was sure her face was seconds away from bursting into flames fueled by her own embarrassment as her body was pressed flush against Yami's sturdy own. Serena felt like her mind had inwardly imploded and all her nerves were set ablaze as she was forced to feel the hard lines and contour of the crimson-eyed duelist. He hadn't seem to mind as he unconsciously put his arm around her to hold her close. His fingers left an imprint of tingling sensations on her bare shoulder once he let go.

Kaiba was an unfortunate witness to the scene before him and he inwardly groaned with all of his being. He desperately wished that he was the one flying the helicopter right now instead of taking part of this ridiculous love fest.

The figure of Joey Wheeler met the trio at the docks. Even from the helicopter, Serenity could sense a dark energy around him. "I think there's something wrong with him," the blonde said gravely. Kaiba commented dryly, "Yea, he looks slightly more braindead than usual."

Serenity fumed at his statement, "Kaiba! I'm being serious!" Before they could continue their banter, Mokuba landed the helicopter precariously on the ground. All three jumped out and the Pharaoh quickly ran over to the square platform where Joey stood. The blonde male opened his mouth, but the voice that came out was not his own. His voice dipped several octaves and sounded scratchier. Joey had definitely been brainwashed by this Marik. The way he had addressed Yami proved it. "Pharaoh, it's nice of you to finally come. Your precious friends have been waiting for so long."

Controlling Joey's body like a puppet-master, he made Joey jut his arm to the left, gesturing to the figure of Tea, chained down to a metal chair. A steel box attached to a crane hanged dangerously above her.

"If you want to save your friends, you'll have to duel for them," Marik commanded. He explained the rules of the game. Each duelist would be chained to an anchor. The key to free both would be locked in a box that would only opened up if the opposing duelist's life points reached zero. Basically, whoever won would get a chance to unlock themselves as the anchor dropped. The loser would unfortunately find a new home at the bottom of the ocean. If the timer on the duel ran out, both duelists would go down with the anchor. Serenity shivered at the fatal implications of the duel.

Kaiba barked at the conditions, "this violates the Battle City Tournament Rules! Stop this at once!" Serenity was a bit baffled that he had said something, her opinion of Kaiba shifting. "He does care," she thought.

"Fool!" resounded Marik, "if you even think about interfering with this duel, the precious girl over there will go splat." One Rare Hunter came out from behind the crane with a remote, indicating that if he were to press the button, the steel box would drop within a second. Horror filled everyone at the docks.

WIthout any hint of hesitation, Yami acquiesced to the terms of the duel, moving to chain himself to the anchor. Serenity wanted desperately to yell for him to stop, but knew it was fruitless to fight against this faceless evil right now. Even if she somehow managed to stop the duel, Joey's and Tea's mind was still under the control of Marik. What then would the brainwasher do if he were angered? He could have both of them jump into the oceans themselves and paralyze their limbs so they would helplessly drown. No, for now, it would be better to play his game and believe in Yami to find a way out of this.

Kaiba, Mokuba, and Serenity stood there as the duel began. Speaking loud enough for only Serenity to hear, Kaiba said, "aren't you some kind of angel? Can't you stop this thing?"

The beautiful blonde stared at him incredulously with eyes that matched the ocean surrounding them. At first, she thought he was joking, but his tone seemed completely serious instead of tinged with sarcasm like it typically was.

She chuckled humorlessly in reply, thinking of all the things that had transpired in barely a day. The sometimes blonde, sometimes platinum haired girl was freed from a two-dimensional slumber by the spirit of an ancient Pharaoh living in a mysterious Egyptian artifact. She woke up with mysterious powers that her body wielded naturally, but she herself couldn't understand the first thing about them. Turned out she had wings too, which was helpful in saving a man, but ended up scaring the bee jeebies out of another guy, which led to her to be shot. Now, another deathly match surrounding a card game commenced within moments of the last one finishing and there was nothing she could do to stop it. It was quite a day for the winged amnesiac. "I'm many things, Kaiba, but I'm no angel."

Sarcasm returned to his voice, "good. Because I have a lot of unresolved feelings about god that I didn't want to deal with."

Serenity narrowed her eyes at him incredulously. "You're a piece of work, Kaiba."

"Thank you."

The duo returned their attention to the duel at hand. The battle had begun similarly to the last one the blonde had seen. She could now detect a sort of pattern to the kind of tactics duelists would use. One could put monsters on the field as well as several trap cards that would could easily change the tide of the game. However, one fatal stipulation was that if there were no monsters or trap cards, the opponent can deal direct damage to the duelist.

A little after the duel had started, a car carrying four newcomers arrived: an attractive man with emerald green eyes with a dice dangling from his ear, a high school teen brown-haired male that Serena felt like she had seen before, a curvaceous blonde whose eyes did not leave Joey's the moment she saw him, and a redhead with bandages covering her eyes. The bunch hadn't seen Serena as she was mostly shielded by Kaiba's much towering figure. Everyone was too busy focusing on the deathly Shadow Game involving two of their closest friends to notice the mysterious blonde anyhow.

A twist occurred midway through the match. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise when she saw that the two Yugis had switched, with the original owner of the body calling the shots now. It seemed like she was the only one who could detect the transformation at the moment, but looking at the frustration on the brainwashed Joey's face, it seemed that Marik had noticed it too.

Serena could feel the intensity of the emotions flowing between the two duelists. Yugi was earnestly trying to help Joey break free of Marik's grasp. It wasn't until he had activated a card that allowed each duelists to pick one card from his opponent's hand that it seemed to work. The blonde woman could see a bit of the darkness surrounding the Wheeler male slowly lift when he cast his gaze upon one of Yugi's cards. Things were looking up after all.

When both the men's life points decreased to such a low level that their next move was going to be their last, all the witnesses of the duel felt dread filling the pit of their stomachs. At Joey's activation of Meteor of Destruction, all hope for Yugi's victory was lost until the teen activated Mystical Refpanel to decide the direction of Joey's fatal attack. Serena could see the pain in Yugi's eyes as he couldn't even bare the thought of being the cause of his own friend's death. He used his card to direct Meteor of Destruction on himself. The blonde woman's own cries were drowned out by everyone else's around her.

Before she could react, Joey used Meteor of Destruction's additional ability to attack himself as well in order to unlock the key to free Yugi. As the anchor plummeted into the ocean floor, the sandy blonde man used the chain as a vine whip to swing over to his barely conscious friend. No one could see what occured underneath the murky water but before long, the spiky-haired violet-eyed teen resurfaced, gasping for air. As Serena readied to dive into the unforgiving waters to save the still submerged sandy blonde, the redhead girl she overheard to be named Serenity briskly took off her bandages and heroically plunged into the water.

Paralyzed at the tumult before her, she was shocked out of her stupor when Kaiba put his hand on her shoulder. He moved his steely eyes to Tea, who was still trapped beneath the crate, and the Rare Hunter keeping her prisoner. Understanding immediately settled within her crystal blue eyes. Without a second thought, she sprinted in the captive girl's attention. Her captor was taken aback by the charging girl but quickly moved to press the button. Immediately, Serena's eyes caught the sight of a small, sharp object slicing the air by her. The bullet-like object hit the cloaked man's hand and his remote control fell to the floor. Unfortunately, when the remote control had fallen to the floor, it's button side was facing the ground, and the drop effectively pressed it. The steel cage began its descent.

Regardless, the blonde teen continued her charge and using her speed, she drew her arm outward and knocked the Rare Hunter out of the way, successfully incapacitating him from doing anymore harm. With her other hand, she summoned small orbs of energy and directed it at each steel chain locking Tea's wrists and ankles to the chair. Using her foot to propel her body forward, she launched herself at Tea, successfully grabbing the unconscious girl's body. Serena held the teenage girl's limp form close to her own as the two barely dodged the plummeting steel crate. Part of the wooden dock collapse under the weight of the steel crate, separating the two girls from the rest of the group.

Laying the brunette girl's body on the dock, she kneeled beside her and pressed their foreheads together, willing her own spiritual powers to break Marik's control of his hapless victim. The upturned moon insignia shined brightly. As her own spirit entered Tea's mind, she could discern tendrils of dark, heinous energy wrapping around her. Thankfully, the dark energy hold of Yugi's friend was shallow as it hadn't been a long time since she had fallen into Marik's evil clutches. Serena called upon her powers of light to expel the darkness from the girl's spirit. Slowly, both maidens' eyes opened to the marmalade haze of the sunset sky.

The blonde moved her head out of the way to allow the teen girl space to rise. As Tea rose, her eyes caught sight of Yugi's heaving body and taking no notice of the bunned-head girl, she hurriedly ran over to join the group. The other Serenity broke the surface of the water with her unconscious brother seconds after. Their friends immediately helped to pull them out of the sea. The group anxiously watched as Joey coughed up the water in his lungs and when they determined that all was well, everyone rejoiced.

Serena walked over from the other side of the dock to silently watch the group fuss over Joey and Yugi. Her heavy gaze fell on the bunch exchanging assurances that they were alright and cheers of joy that everyone was alive and altogether at that moment. The only people standing on the sidelines were the Kaiba siblings and Serena. The blonde beauty couldn't help but feel her heart ache at the scene before her as a wave of nostalgia washed over her. In her mind, muffled voices of faceless strangers called out her name longingly. Tears welled up in her eyes for people she could not remember. Did she have friends that loved her like Yugi's friends? Were there people who missed her? Did she belong somewhere? In someone's arms?

The spiritual form of Yami materialized next to her. His weighted gaze was solely focused on Yugi's form. "The bond between Yugi and his friends make him stronger." Serena shifted her gaze to him as he spoke. "Someday, he will surpass even me." She smiled at the pride in his voice.

Yugi and Joey's friends helped them to their feet and after a moving exchange between the two, everyone's resolve seem to multiply tenfold. With all threats of danger successfully evaded, everyone seemed to finally notice Serena's presence.

"Whoa," let out Duke, clearly already enamored with the flaxen maiden in front of him, "who's the cute blonde?"

Once again, Serena was put in a position in which she couldn't think of an appropriate answer. Should she tell them that she was summoned from a duel monster card? How could she possibly explain that she was a magical being from another realm of existence? As all trains of thoughts simultaneously crashed in the blonde woman's mind, Kaiba spoke up from the other side of the group.

"She's my assistant," he stated bluntly. The laser-sharp glare that he gave Duke when he had said that sent chills down the emerald-eyed man's spine. Mokuba let out a small noise of confusion as he had never seen the blonde before at the company. Kaiba hushed him quietly, signaling his brother to play along with the ruse.

"Got it. She's off limits," said Duke nervously in understanding, putting his hands up in defeat.

Joey was about to speak up and say that she didn't really look like an assistant, at least she didn't dress like one, but upon remembering that his was the guy who flew around in a custom-made dragon jet, who knows what kind of sick, twisted requirements one had to fulfill to to get the position. The sandy blonde lamented at the poor girl's fate.

As the sun sunk below the waters, painting the starry heavens in a rich ultramarine, the group split up to go home. Mai offered to take home half the group in her car while Kaiba called his personal limo to take the rest home. Tristan, Duke, Joey, and his sister, Serenity, tiredly climbed into the busty blonde's convertible.

That meant that Yugi, Serena, and Tea were left to ride with Kaiba and his little brother. The limo promptly arrived a minute or two after Mai's vehicle had left. Kaiba's lift had space for six people, with two leather booths fit for three people facing each other. Tea went in first, followed by Yugi and Serena. The two Kaiba siblings were the last to enter.

As the vehicle began its drive, the passing scenery lulled both Tea and Yugi to sleep. The brunette's head fell gently on the spiky-haired teens shoulder and Serena smiled at the visage the cute couple made. She raised her hand and moved it over the two, summoning a warm light to embrace the two of them. Sure enough, Yugi's injuries from the duel before healed, all evidence that he had been hit with the burning meteor disappeared. Both Tea's and Yugi's physical exhaustion from the day's event were pushed away by Serena's restorative powers, but only sleep would help with the mental tiredness.

Mokuba's eyes widen in astonishment at the remarkable sight before him. His words were readying to tumble out of his lips but seeing that his elder brother had not said anything, he chose to mirror Kaiba's lack of reaction as to not disturb their sleeping passengers. Seemed that his brother knew something about the mysterious blonde woman in front of them. Mokuba was sure to hound his brother with questions later.

After her powers subsided, Serena couldn't help but let a shudder escape her. She was the least able to battle the air conditioned chill of the fancy limo as her legs and arms were exposed. Since Kaiba's gaze was locked on her, intrigued at the previous display of power, he immediately noticed the shivering form of the girl. Wordlessly, he took off his silver trench coat and threw it onto the blonde beauty's trembling form. Although she had first thrown him a glare, thinking the gesture to be rude, she quickly realized it was Kaiba's first ever attempt to be gentlemanly to her. She was about to offer Kaiba her own first words of civility to him, but she was cut off by a gruff voice, "get warmer clothes." As if it was her fault her body was freezing.

Wow. He really wouldn't let her have anything without injecting something impolite into the gesture. "Get a better attitude," she quipped back.

The younger Kaiba sibling felt his soul almost leave his body after witnessing the exchange. First of all, he had just seen his brother lend his coat to a stranger, a courtesy that the man had only ever offered to Mokuba himself. Secondly, he was bantering with the pretty blonde without any ounce of poison he had heard in almost all of Kaiba's previous conversations. "Wait…" wondered Mokuba, "is this my brother's attempt at flirting with a girl? Man, grownups are weird." Flabbergasted, the younger boy's last thoughts before he fell asleep were hopes that he wouldn't grow up to be as strange as the teens around him.

Eventually, Serena's eyelids grew heavy and fell like curtains. Her head tilted towards the side of the car and rested on her shoulder. Kaiba was the only one left awake, but all he could do was peer at the blonde's peaceful sleeping face.

They reached Tea's home first and Kaiba silently reached over to wake up the brunette. She stepped out of the vehicle and gave Yugi a lingering gaze as the door closed. Almost immediately, the spirit of the Millenium Puzzle took over Yugi's sleeping body. His eyelids rose to reveal scarlet eyes whose shine danced under the passing lights outside. The limo suddenly pulled around a sharp turn and Serena's slumbering figure was jostled towards Yami's side. Now her head laid softly on his sturdy shoulder. His once stern gaze softened at the sight of Serena's dozing face.

Kaiba's eyes narrowed at the sight before him, an unexplainable burst of jealousy licked his insides. Annoyed, he made a mental note to fire the driver after they got back.

"I didn't realize you were such a ladies man," snidely remarked the brunette.

Brushing off the comment, the Pharaoh said, "did you release a card with a silver-haired woman who looked like Serena on it?"

"What are you talking about?" Kaiba replied incredulously. "The only cards in my radar are the God cards which will all soon belong to me," he finished haughtily.

"I see," he stated and the conversation came to an abrupt end. The limo turned around another corner and Yugi's grandpa's game shop came into view. Within moments, the automobile came to a halt. Solomon Muto was standing worriedly in front of the shop, anxious for the return of his grandson. The boy had never stayed out so late without telling his guardian first.

Not wanting to wake up the slumbering Serena up, he stepped out of the car and slipped his hands underneath her back and knees so he could comfortably lift her. He had made a move to take Kaiba's coat off of her, but the brusque man just said "keep it." With that, he bridal-carried the sleeping beauty up the stairs and tenderly laid her upon her bed. Not able to stop himself, he ran his knuckles along the side of her face, relishing in the soft feel of her creamy skin.

His heart swelled with admiration along with another unidentifiable feeling. She had saved his friends and foes alike, even without being asked to. This beautiful and kind stranger even went as far as healing their injuries even when her own hadn't healed. Yami was still worried about her the wound she had sustained earlier that day. His thoughts darken at the memory of that fiendish Rare Hunter who was still unfortunately breathing the same air as her. His protectiveness over the blonde beauty had skyrocketed since he had first met her almost twenty-four hours ago and for the life of him, he couldn't explain why.

One thing he could understand though was that he had never met anyone like her before. No one as lovely, as powerful, and as kind as Serena has ever crossed his path. Yami thanked all the Egyptian gods in existence that he had stumbled upon her card when he did. Well, maybe it hadn't been luck. Maybe it was destiny.

A tired yawn escaped him before he even knew it was coming. He inwardly sighed. He could leave his mind to wrestle about fate and destiny another time. For now, he needed sleep. Not soon after, he plopped into his own bed and released his hold of Yugi's body, and both welcoming the numbing embrace of sleep.

It was dark and cold in Serena's mind as if she were submerged into the waters of the Alaskan sea, deep enough for the sun's rays to never reach. It was strange as being trapped in these waters was peaceful yet suffocating at the same time. The pressure around her body made her lungs want to collapse, the only thing saving it would be to break the surface for air. But there was no freedom from her abysmal surroundings. She couldn't even tell up from down. Before long, cold wasn't the only thing she was feeling. Tendrils of darkness began crawling from all angles, swimming towards her like macabre eels in the water.

"What's going on?!" she tried to scream. But no sound would escape her throat as the water robbed her off her voice. The darkness started wrapping around her limbs and spreading quickly across her body like a contagion. Pretty soon, the only part of her untouched by the darkness was her head.

"You foolish girl,' a faceless voice spoke. The baritone of the voice hit a node of familiarity in Serenity's mind. She had heard a similar voice before. "When you tried to expel me from that girl's mind, you unknowingly opened the door to allow me in yourself."

If the blonde woman still had any control of her body, she would have gasped. "This is Marik! He must have entered my mind when I established a link with Tea!"

"Oh, so you blondes do have a brain," even though she clearly didn't have the upper hand in the predicament she found herself in, Serena itched to show this dastardly Marik exactly what blondes like her were capable of. "I wouldn't have guessed it based on my previous disappointing encounter with one, as you well know." He was clearly referring to the fiasco with Joey Wheeler.

As the unmasked Marik roamed around Serena's mind, obtrusively poking and prodding, he commented, "I must admit, you are absolutely the finest specimen I've ever had my hands on." The paralyzed blonde shuddered at his words.

"You have so much power," he marveled with fiendish delight, "but it seems something's blocking you from accessing it."

Serena didn't understand how, but she felt him knocking on what seemed to be a thick glass wall in her soul.

"Well," he continued, "it's better for me as it makes you all the more easier to control."

The blue-eyed girl wanted so much to scream her lungs raw at the invasion, but she didn't even have access to her vocal chords. It seemed that Marik's control hadn't finished pervading throughout her body like an incurable poison as she still somewhat retained control of her legs. Using all the will she could muster, she ran towards the wall, slamming her body against it in hopes that the pain would shock Marik out of her system.

"Foolish girl. I can't feel anything in your body. All the pain inflicted upon you is yours and yours alone." Her anger flared at his condescending tone.

Without warning, Yami appeared through the door frame with only the top half of his body showing. "Serena, is everything alright," his voice laced with worry.

When he saw the blonde maiden on her knees, clutching her head as if she wanted to crush her own skull, he knew something was terribly wrong. He quickly floated down to her side, trying to assess the situation.

Suddenly, all her movements ceased and she eerily turned her head to face him, her eyes dark. Her vacant expression alarmed him. He had seen a familiar expression on Joey and Tea today, and on the army of Rare Hunters that Marik controlled. His eyes widened in fear when the realization set in. How was this possible? How could Marik had known about Serena?

"You know, Pharaoh. Judging by your expression, this girl is pretty important to you." The Spirit of the Millenium Puzzle said nothing, not wanting to give this evil fiend any more reason to put the blonde in danger.

Using Serena's lips, he forced his captured to give a sadistic smile. Yami's skin crawled at such an unnatural expression on the kind Serena's face. "If I had known you had a heart, I would aimed for it much earlier."

"Marik!" Yami roared with a rage unrivaled by any eruption he had ever felt before, "she has nothing to do with this! LET HER GO!" His booming voice shook the walls.

The maniacal expression on the blonde girl's face made the Pharaoh's skin crawl. He promised to himself that when he found Marik, the fiend would rue the day he threatened his friends. He would rue the day he threatened Serena. A heavy, suffocating darkness swirled around the Pharaoh's spirit, enshrouding him a cloak of shadows. The olive man hiding behind his millenium rod gulped nervously, fear coursing through his veins as he momentarily forgot that miles separated him and the deadly Pharaoh.

Regaining his composure, albeit weakly, he said in the Serena's soft, alluring voice, "She's quite exquisite. I can see why you've fallen for her."

Before either of them could continue their conversation, Yugi bursted through the doors looking frazzled, hair messy and even spikier than usual. "Pharoah! Is everything alright? I heard you yelling through the walls," he explained groggily. He observed the scene before him. His slowly waking mind was trying and failing to comprehend why his darker self and Serena seemed to be in a standoff. With his mind waking up due to the flush of adrenaline in his system, he finally got a good look at the girl's eyes and saw their clouded look.

The familiarity of the hazy expression jolted Yugi's sleepy brain awake as it had not been just hours ago since he had seen the same look on Joey and Tea's faces. "Oh no! Has Marik taken over control of Serena?!" No one answered him because at that moment, the wielder of the Millenium Rod manipulated his blonde captive to dash past Yugi and into his room.

Too exhausted to stow away the Millenium Puzzle and his Duel Disk with his deck still in it, Yugi had carelessly tossed them on his desk before collapsing onto his bed. Marik had taken this opportunity to snatch them and make a dash for the closest exit outside of the window. The spiky-haired teen's eyes widened in disbelief but took no time to lunge at Serena's mind-controlled body in order to stop her. He had just gone through this whole ordeal with Bandit Keith; he didn't need to be taught this lesson twice.

Fortunately for him, due to Serena's petite size, she wasn't able to hold a tight grip on both the bulky duel disk and Millenium Puzzle. After struggling a bit, Yugi managed to slip the puzzle out of her grasp but she used his momentary pause to escape. Without any hesitation, she lept out of the opened window whilst clutching the duel disk to her chest.

If Yami had his own form, his soul would have just left his corporeal form at the heart dropping sight. Both Yugis rushed over to window to see if she were alright. They were on the second story afterall. A fall from this height could possibly fatally injure a normal person.

But Serena was no normal person. Before her body had even begun its descent, enormous white wings ripped from her shoulder blades. Her winged form shined iridescent under the moonlight and once again left the Pharaoh speechless and immobilized.

"Wow," Marik marveled through Serena's lips, "so she's got wings, too. I found myself the perfect tool against you, Pharaoh."

Not lingering for a moment longer, her opalescent wings cut through the silent night sky.

—

The spirit of the gold puzzle was unable to tear his eyes away from the fleeing form of Serena. He was paralyzed and inwardly cursing at himself. He couldn't go after her no matter how much his nonexistent body wished to. For the first time, he saw the Millenium Puzzle as a chain instead of anchor for his soul.

Yugi whipped out his phone and called the first person who came to his mind. A groggy, aggravated voice answered on the second ring.

"Yugi, it's 3 AM and unless you're calling to duel me, I'm going to hang up this second."

Ignoring his words, Yugi said, "Marik took control of Serena's body and flew away with my duel disk."

A rustling came from Kaiba's end followed by a low "shit." A moment passed and the now fully awake brunette had his laptop opened in front of him, eyes scanning the online map for Yugi's duel disk location. "She's headed towards downtown. I'll send a car for you." He hung up before Yugi could thank him.

While he waited for the car, he conference-called his friends to explain the situation. It was a difficult to summarize who Serenity-slash-Serena was, but he tried his best under the time pressure.

"Wait, my sister stole your duel disk?" Joey's tired and confused voice asked.

It seemed Tea was the only one to grasp the pertinent parts of Yugi's explanation because she just said, "Joey, just get up and meet us in front of Yugi's place."

Tea, Joey, and Tristan swiftly got dressed and rushed over to the game shop. Thankfully, they all lived relatively close to the location and arrived just as a KaibaCorp branded car pulled up. "Jeez," commented Joey on the vehicle's lavishness, "is this guy compensating for something?"

"If there's anybody here with something to prove, it's you Wheeler," resounded a sarcastic voice from the car. Tea broke the pissing contest that was about to ensue by unceremoniously shoving the sandy blonde into the car. Yugi and Tristan wordlessly entered the vehicle.

For the first time in awhile, they didn't see Mokuba attached to his brother's hip. Guess Kaiba let him sleep in, not seeing this excursion appropriate for the child.

"It seems her movement stopped. She's settled on the tallest skyscraper in the city, which I conveniently own." He cockily finished.

Annoyed by his haughtiness, Joey was about to quip, "we get it. You're rich," but a harsh stomp on his toes from Tea squeezed the words right out of his throat. It was too late in the night to listen to the two idiots bicker.

"Wait, so who is this person again?" questioned Tristan.

Yugi struggled to find the right words. "She's the...spirit from the card I summoned."

"Oh!" exclaimed Joey, "the silver hottie!" He shrank into his seat under the death glare Tea gave him. "What? Everyone was thinking it." He muttered under his breath. A soft blush dusted across all the males' faces. Even Kaiba's. If anybody asked about him about it, he'd tell them to go get eye surgery.

Luckily the awkward silence was cut short when the car screeched to a halt. The building that greeted them seemed to climb to the sky like the Tower of Babel. "I'll bet my money that she's at the top. Marik's a lot of things but subtle is not one of them," said Kaiba. The group nodded in acquiescence and rushed passed the building's door and into the elevator that brought them to the roof.

When they burst through the doors to the top, the visage of a woman with golden waves of hair flying around her greeted them. Adding to the gusts of wind atop the skyscraper, Yugi swiftly transformed into the Pharaoh. The swirl of her cerulean eyes engulfed Yami's crimson one's and guilt swelled within the man. How could he let this happen to her?

"So you've finally come, Pharaoh. You've given me more than enough time to fully take control of her." Yami's anger clawed against his chest at the thought of Marik's evil intrusion on the innocent girl's mind.

"Pharaoh, do you know what I want more than the god cards in my hands?" The royal said nothing in response. Marik's games were getting old. "I want your rotten soul to sink to bottom of the shadow realm where not even light would dare to go. You deserve every ounce of misery that I will have the pleasure of granting you."

Yami couldn't give a damn where Marik wanted his soul to go. All he cared about was saving Serena from Marik's poisoned grasp.

"I'll duel you if you promise to let Serena go." His baritone voice carried across the roof.

"Ah-ah-ah," the mind-controlled blonde said in a mocking sing-song voice. "I'm in charge here. But I'll humor you. Whatever the results of the duel is, I'll release my hold on her."

"Fine. I'll accept your challenge." Yami said in a tone of finality. The golden angel smiled maliciously and once again, his heart ached painfully at such an unnatural sight.

She chucked the stolen duel disk towards the King of Games and he caught it deftly. On her own arm materialized a crystallized copy of the duel disk. The way the crystal duel disk refracted the moonlight made it seemed like it was made of iridescent opal.

Two golden disks of light spanning the width of their arm materialized under the two duelists. Without warning, the disks started floating with the two occupants still on them. Yami's knees almost buckled at the sudden upward movement but he caught himself, regaining his balance.

"What's the meaning of this, Marik?!"

"Oh Pharaoh, you really didn't think my game would be that simple?"

As the glowing disks moved parallel towards the edge of the skyscraper, Marik continued, "as each duelist lose life points, the disks below will wane like the moon. It's an interesting manifestation of this girl's powers, don't you think?"

Now the pair balanced precariously off the side of the building. They were close enough where the gang could still see them but far enough for the group to not be able to reach the two duelist if they fall. Yami tried to calm his racing heart, not allowing himself to look down. He brushed away the heavy thought that he would be risking both his and Yugi's life if he didn't duel with a clear mind.

Gulping nervously, Joey finally felt what it was like to be an audience to one of Marik's deadly games. Is this how the others had felt when they watched his and Yugi's duel? Helpless and powerless against a faceless villain? A thought struck him as he finally remembered where he last saw the blonde girl. Completely forgetting the previous explanations he received from Yugi, he asked in perplexed wonder, "wait. Why is Yuge dueling Kaiba's secretary?"

Kaiba didn't even have it in him to sigh exasperatedly. "Just shut up and watch the duel, Wheeler." He commanded with a clipped tone. The said man scrunched his face in annoyance but nonetheless drew his attention back to the duel.


	6. Chapter 6: It's Your Move

The cold wind wrapped around Yami like the hands of vengeful ghosts beckoning him to return to his grave. But the chill running down his spine wasn't due to the gales rocking him precariously. No, it was Serena's icy orbs that shot daggers through him, allowing his guilt to bleed from the wounds. Those eyes no longer contained the warmth and unwavering strength that drew him to her when she first descended into his life like a silver angel.

He had done this to her. Tainted her. Led her to fall into Marik's clutches. And now he was being rightfully punished for his mistake by going up against the one person who least deserve to be engulfed in the unforgiving abyss of the Shadow Realm. How did it come to this? What was the point of rising from his eternal slumber if he couldn't protect anyone? If he couldn't protect _her_.

The winds picked up, calling a particularly strong gale in the Pharaoh's direction and he forced his body to stand rigid in its wake. If the winds increased in their velocity, then it wouldn't matter how much tactical skill the Pharaoh had. He wasn't the one with wings in this duel.

The crimson-eyed man tore his gaze away from Serena and stilled his raging mind. The duel had begun. In a flash, his eyes grew sharp and his muscles tensed. His persona shifted into the King of Games who had faced countless of duels before with an indomitable faith in the heart of the cards. But this time was different. This time, whether he could admit it or not, his heart was somewhere else. In _someone_ else.

Yami placed his trusted Celtic Guard in attack mode and a face down card. He ended his turn by returning his focus to the woman in front of him. Her hair danced in the wind like golden waves. Yami couldn't even begin to imagine where this duel could go. Serena had never played Duel Monsters before. In the two days since she had appeared out of the monster card, she had been whisked away to deal with his and Yugi's troubles. There had been no time for her to attain her own deck, much less play the game. But having gotten to know the mysterious blonde woman thus far, he wouldn't be surprised if she gleaned the skills and rules from the two matches that she had witnessed. Afterall, she was studying two of the finalists from the Pegasus Tournament and the King of Game himself.

Speaking of her deck, even from his distance, he could tell that her cards were different from the tournament sanctioned ones. The cards were made of an opaque crystal that reflected the myriad of the city lights below them. Serena placed her first card down her duel disk.

"I summon The Guardian of War, Sailor Mars!"

Both Yugi and his partner's eyebrows shot to the sky. Neither of them had ever heard of this card before. By the look of astonishment on their friends' faces, neither had they.

Before he could voice his confusion, a woman with cascading ebony hair materialized out of thin air. When her eyelids lifted like curtains to reveal burning amethyst eyes, Yami felt pinned by their intensity. Her uniform reflected the style of the sailor outfit that Serena wore except hers were dipped in red.

A shot of recognition skittered across Serena's eyes but it was too quick for anyone to catch. The memory punctured her heart like an arrow, setting her nerves on fire.

 _A beautiful priestess, whose tongue was sharp but heart kind, chastised her blonde friend as she turned away from her mountain of homework like it was a distasteful meal. "Jeez, meatball head. I don't know how you could possibly be a princess in your past life."_

 _Serena scrunched her eyebrows in offense. "I'm aiming to achieve a sort of lazy grace that you can't comprehend."_

" _Well, you're halfway there. You got the lazy part down."_

 _Rei ducked her head to dodge the notebook flung haphazardly by Serena. She smirked knowingly. Homework was the last thing on those two girls' minds now as their hands reached for the nearest pillows in competitive delight._

It felt like she was aimlessly treading through someone else's dream—trudging through this fog of memories. Was it possible that that was her own memory? What else could explain the tug of her heart strings at the sight of the familiar black locks and fiery gaze. She begged for her voice to return to her, to call out to the guardian in front of her. But her vocal chords didn't even vibrate a fraction to communicate the words clawing at the top of her throat.

Trapped within her own mind, Serena heard the sardonic, throaty laughter of her unforgiving captor. "Foolish girl. You think you can stand up to _me_? You didn't even know who you are. What makes you think a girl like you, with no friends or family or even memories stands a chance against me?"

The darkness surged abruptly, adding to the cloud of self-doubt and uncertainty that festered in the hole where Serena's memories should have been. The force shoved Serena deeper within herself, and the light of the outside world grew that much dimmer.

It was Yami's turn again. With a booming voice, he commanded, "Celtic Guardian! Attack her guardian!" The valiant elvish warrior branded his sword and swung without hesitation, dutifully following his master's order. The unforgiving sword tore through Sailor Mars like paper. Her screams blasted through the night sky like a siren. Yami's heart sank with guilt. He gulped down his hesitation, forcing himself to remember that these were only holograms. It wasn't possible that he had just destroyed a real soul.

Sailor Mars's anguished cry shot through Serena's heart and yanked her back towards the light. But there was still so much darkness for her to sift through. Her vision still murky. She could barely see past the crystal cards in her hands. More and more memories slip through her fingers like sand from a broken hourglass.

 _Thorny vines ripped through the ground to claim their fiery target. Spikes punctured her once immaculate skin, viciously drawing blood. Even her fire, whose light rivaled the sun could not burn through the vine's merciless grip._

 _Serena finally tasted hopelessness in the bile rising in her throat at the sight of her friend's mangled body._

Serena's paralyzed soul could do nothing more suffer silently through the despair that flooded her being. More of a reflex than a conscious choice, she summoned her next card and laid waste to her opponent's monster.

"I call upon the Guardian of Protection, Sailor Jupiter! Avenge your fellow guardian! Attack his monster!" The order shot out of her like a bullet but Serena couldn't even differentiate her own voice from Marik's, their hatred for their opponent intertwined for a second. But the anger and sadness of having lost a friend belonged only to her. The torment welled under her skin, making her feel as if she had been forced to touch metal heated by the burning embers of the sun until her skin gave way to bones.

A lightning bolt as thunderous as the ones frothing from Slifer's mouths ripped through the sky, charging the green sailor scout's attack. Her lightning strike pummeled his Celtic Guardian into submission. A sweatdrop beaded upon Yami's brow and gave way to the force of gravity, falling to the unforgiving ground dozens of stories below. Yami called forth another monster card rivaling the power of the Sailor Guardians to replace the one obliterated by Jupiter's Supreme Thunder.

A game of chess began between the two. One's piece for another. But Yami's pieces weighed nothing compared to Serena's. Each time she lost one of her guardians, a mournful tear would spill over. Although nothing else gave way to the emotions locked away by Marik, her tears were the one thing that escaped the Millenium Rod's despotic hold over Serena.

" _Geez, Serena. You eat like you have ten stomachs to fill."_

" _Well, you cook like you have ten mouths to stuff," Serena said as she gestured to the array of dishes lining the small dining room table. "You and I both know that I'm doing you a favor."_

 _Lita said nothing as she smiled knowingly. She hummed as she dropped some onions to sweeten her curry. Serena surely needed the food. The kitchen was filled with a warm and calming air that Lita naturally exuded, despite being seen as an all-too powerful gang member by those who only took one glance at her._

 _Serena smiled. Lita's cooking was second only to her mom's and she thanked the goddesses everyday for having one of the best cooks in the solar system as her friend. Lita's warm smile beamed as Serena tried another spoonful of her current dish, letting a sigh of ecstasy._

Yami summoned Black Luster Soldier to the field. His broad sword glinted under the moonlight. A second later, his sword pierced through Sailor Jupiter's form faster than the speed of sound. The Guardian of Jupiter couldn't even yell as she fell. It wouldn't have mattered. Her scream died in her throat.

 _A tornado of leaves whirled around Lita, unforgiving in its destruction. The green soldier could do nothing as her life drained away from her to feed the dark crystal vying for their planet. The last thought on her mind was of Serena, of her promise to bake her a green tea cake for their tea party next week. It was too bad. She had already gone shopping for the ingredients. Guess Serena would have to make it herself, even though the last place Lita would allow Serena in was her own kitchen._

 _Hopefully someone else could watch over her beloved moon princess. There wasn't too many of them left now. "Oh Serena, what would she be without us by her side."_

Serena lunged at the barricade created by Marik's power. She pounded against it with her fist until her nerves could no longer differentiate from pain or touch. Anger burned her throat as if she had been forced to swallow a hot piece of coal. None of the torment flooding through Serena's body was reflected on the outside. She drew another card.

 _Amiiiii. You need to stop studying all the time. Give your brain a break. It must be fried with all those math equations you crammed into it. Relax every once in a while. The princess of Mercury can use a relaxation day._

 _Ami peeked over the pages of the book she was currently engrossed in, pondering Serena's suggestion. "Geez, Ami. You're already the next Einstein at 16 years old." Ami cheeks flushed at the compliment. Sincerity shone through Serena like a beacon. That's why so many people naturally gravitated towards her. Ami smiled and allowed Serena to take her hand, leaving her book forgotten in the sand._

Sailor Mercury, Soldier of Water and Intelligence, brought an icy mist as she appeared on stage. Yami's own soldier's light was snuffed out of him as her harp played the alluring melody of destruction. Yami quickly returned the favor.

 _The dream mirror engulfed Sailor Mercury without remorse. Her dreams were shattered before another second had gone by. Her dreams of becoming a doctor, a pianist, a mother, a friend. All gone before Serena could even call out her name. There was only darkness to greet her with awaiting arms. She thought she should fear it. But it was calm and soothing._

 _Finally her mind could pause for awhile before the next strategy or the next challenge entered her mind to tease her. But as her mind eased into rest, her body seized in fear. It knew what her mind did not. Her own body knew that Sailor Mercury was dying before her Einstein-rivaling mind could comprehend it for itself. Sometimes it was not brains over brawns. She wished she could have thanked Serena one more time. For reminding her to taste fun every once in a while. She should have more of those moments._

Sailor Venus materialized in front of Serena and it was like two golden stars had fallen onto the earth. It was eerie how similar Serena and her Scout looked. If they had been off the field, Yami would have likened them to sisters. She slashed through his monsters like paper, pushing him further and further towards the edge. But Sailor Venus's next attack led her to the graveyard.

The waning discs beneath their feet resembled half moons. Both opponents' monster layout were mirror images of each other. Serena had three Sailor Scouts on her side, named after the planets floating beyond the asteroid belt, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto. The Magna Warriors trio guarded Yami's life points. They were at a standstill; Yami knew that this hack and slash tactic wouldn't last for long. He needed to summon his Slifer for a quick and undeniable finish. He could feel his erratic heartbeat in his fingertips—the cards in his hands were practically vibrating in anticipation.

The Pharaoh drew the next card and bristled. He was going to paint the sky Slifer Red. A pulse. A second. A heartbeat. Who knew how long it took for Yami to call out his next move? The man sacrificed his Magna Warrior Trio to call forth his greatest card: Slifer the Sky Dragon. Thunder rumbled through the night sky, sending vibrations down towards the two sole occupants of the air. Their limbs trembled and Yami briefly wondered if descending through the air would make his heart soar as high as it did when he saw her.

The dragon's two mouth monstrosity parted the dark, ashen clouds and Yami quivered for a reason not due to the cold. Serena remained passive, no reaction to just having witnessed a god's descension unto the mortal plane.

What did she have up her sleeve?

A trap card sprung up from its face down position, saving her Slifer's attack for two turns. Yami wondered whether Marik was having her prevent the inevitable.

Yami only placed a card face down on his next turn. Surprise flitted across his eyes when she mirrored his own sacrificial move instead of trying to conjuring some spell card to render his Slifer unusable. Serena sent her three Sailor Soldiers to the graveyard to summon Sailor Saturn, the Sovereign of Silence.

 _Serena stood at cusp of the ocean, the waves lapping at her feet and the wind caressing her face. "Make us proud, little kitten," the wind seemed to say._

Another piece of Serena crumbled into dust.

 _Eyes redder and brighter than the most polished of rubies tearfully settled upon her innocent face. "I, and all your loved ones, wholeheartedly believe in you, Princess, so always have faith in yourself. Please always remember that we love you."_

The depths of Sailor Saturn's eyes seemed to rival the abyss of the unknown universe. An air of heavy silence draped over her, pervading the arena like fog. Although she looked like a teenager, she held herself as if she were a deity-incarnate.

Dread sank Yami's nerves. Although the appearance of Sailor Saturn was not as thunderous as Slifer, Yami could sense that her power was not to be trifled with.

"With the sacrifice of the three outer soldiers, Sailor Saturn has been powered up, rivaling that of your god card." Serena's words cut through the air like a dagger. The end of this duel was nowhere in sight.

The next turn freed Slifer from his suspension. A ball of lighting fizzled in his mouth and grew until it looked like there was a second moon in the sky. The hair on everyone's neck stood, their fight-or-flight instinct screaming for them to run. The blast of electricity shot forth, targeting Sailor Saturn like a vengeful god enacting its punishment.

Sailor Saturn raised her scepter, no emotion flickering across her face as Slifer's attack shot towards her like a bullet. A ball of light fizzled into existence at the end of her weapon, growing brighter and brighter. She countered Slifer's lightning orb with her own energy attack. The strength of the light blast was so strong, it was if daylight had returned to the city for a split moment. If one had not closed their eyes, the light would have burned through their retinas, leaving the poor soul blind.

When everyone open their eyes, both Slifer and Sailor Saturn were no more. Not one trace of them littered the skies. It was if someone turned the page to this twisted story Yami had fallen into. The dragon was defeated, but what was left of the princess?

Serena had only one card left in her hand. Yami was not faring much better. There was only one card that could make the difference. The one that always came to save him when he needed it most. He took a deep breath and summoned his Dark Magician in attack mode. His next breath may be his last. The end was drawing near. Time was shaking.

"I summon King Endymion of Earth to the field." A valiant knight appeared, shoulders squared, and exuding an air of confidence unrivaled by any monster before him. His blue eyes mirrored the oceans that called to the moon every night. He brandished a sword that glinted under the moonlight, arms ready to swing. This card was different than the rest. For a second, Serena looked as if she returned to her old self. But not the one Yami met. A version of her that must have existed before she appeared in front of him.

"Serena, please you have to fight this. I know you're strong enough to break free of Marik's hold." Yami looked passed the royal card in front of him and held the blonde's blank gaze. 'You're the strongest person I've ever met.' He had wanted to say, but he couldn't push the words past his throat.

"She's no longer listening to you, Pharaoh. Now let's get this over with. I want to see you fall into the hole you crawled out of," said Serena in Marik's twisted voice.

Yami saw no other way. Raising his hand to give a command he has given countless times before, he yelled, "Dark Magician, attack her King."

In Chess, the Queen is the most powerful piece in the game. But one must not forget the importance of the King. Without the King, everything crumbles with a flick of a wrist. And that was exactly what happened to Serena's world as she watched her most beloved King get slaughtered before her eyes yet again.

The dam broke. Two lifetimes of memories toppled the barricades of her mind to take over her being. They crashed and wreaked havoc inside her, rearranging and revealing parts about herself she forgot existed. The flood of memories filled her being felt like an ocean trying to rearrange itself into a cup. It was difficult at first, to separate which of her lives was the one she had been most recently living. But her reincarnated life on earth had been so vivid and vibrant compared to the more dulled memories of her time on the moon that separating the two lifetimes was like night and day.

All at once names and faces barreled into her like shooting stars falling on the earth. Wave upon wave of emotions threatened to topple Serena over. But love. Love was the strongest emotion that bursted forth, filling her body with light and warmth. The love that Serena held for her friends was strong enough to retake control of her mind.

"What the devil is going on?!" Marik screeched in terror as his hold over Serena ripped away like a tree being torn from the ground. The dark roots of the Millenium Rod disippitated as surges of light pushed against them. The walls caging Serena's inner self crumbled and for the first time since she'd awoken, she felt whole again.

When the wave of memories receded and the sight of her shredded king greeted her, the anguished cry that ripped through the night sky was unlike any other. The air shook in despair as she took in the sight of her eternal knight. Even as his being was shredded, piece by piece, the King turned his head ever so slightly to meet her tearful gaze. "Goodbye my love…" his lips mouthed. How was this possible? Wasn't he just a hologram? A figment of Serena's imagination?

Watching her love be ripped from her hands yet again made the ever so fragile part of Serena crumble into a heap of misery. How could a person wield the power to warp the fabric of space yet again fail to save her loved ones time and time again?

"This isn't real. None of this is real. This is all just a bad dream." The lies were starting to form. This was all too much for Serena to process. She clutched her scalp, fingers practically begging to hold onto anything else but herself. She morphed into a disarray of tears and whimpers.

If Yami was the King of Games before, he felt like the King of Hell now. Watching the strong and beautiful angel that had fallen into his life like a gift from the heavens crumble into a fragile, weeping mess made everything he'd done up til that point worthless.

"I am so sorry." The words wrapped around Yami's limbs like chains that had him almost buckle beneath their weight. "I did this to you."

"I'm so sorry," his words fell as her tears did. "I can't risk losing you, too."

Yami could no longer hear anything beside Serena's mournful wails. Yugi tried to pull him out of his trance, but all Yami could focus on was the crystalline tears free falling from her face.

"Yami, you have to snap out of this! There has to be another way. You can still save this."

"I forfeit this duel." The moment he spoke those words, the holograms faded into oblivion. The clouds brought by Slifer cleared and once again the moon bathed the scene in a somber light.

No one could comprehend the weight of Yami's words. This was the King of Games who always won. Losing was not in his vocabulary. As the light faded from his duel disk, the crescent moon disk barely separating Yami from his entry into the Shadow Realm disappeared into nothing more than a whisper.

"Yugi! What on earth are you doing?" Joey yelled in desperation, clambering to climb over the railing to hopelessly extend his hand to Yugi, only to be pulled back by Tristan and Tea.

Kaiba felt like the world as he knew was crashing. Did the King of Games just forfeit a duel? Anger and disbelief burned his veins. "What are you doing?! Have you gone insane?! The duel doesn't end til the last card is drawn. You can't end it like this!"

Yami heard none of this. His feet no longer felt the thin moon disks beneath him. His stomach dropped before he did.

The last thing Yami saw before his body descended towards the dark, embracing arms of the shadow realm was Serenity's crystal tears shining under the moonlight.

The wind rushed through his hair, blowing away any last thought.

Fear coiled through his bones, freezing his muscles. It wouldn't have mattered. There was nothing to grab on to. So this was what it felt like to fall. He wondered if his entry into the Shadow Realm would mean that he would be cursed to fall forever, never reaching an end. Maybe that will be his curse. With the image of Serena's misery imprinted on his mind, he supposed the crime fit the punishment.

"Yugi, I'm so sorry." He failed his friends. He failed Yugi. He failed her.

"Pharaoh... don't apologize. I'm glad I could be with you so you won't be alone again." Yami could feel Yugi's soul brush his in comfort.

"I never deserved someone like you. I never deserved friends like them."

"Yes you do. You deserve all that, Yami. Thank you for protecting me all this time. I wouldn't have experience so many triumphs and joy without you by my side. You made my life better than I ever thought it could be. You showed me that I could be better than I was before."

"Yugi, you showed me that I could be more than I was. I would have never accomplished and seen so much without you by my side. You gave me a second chance to walk under the sun and this is how I repay you. I'm sorry I'm dragging you down with me."

"I'm happy to be by your side even in death."

"Yugi, there might be a way for you to survive this. If you go inside the puzzle, perhaps you could be saved from the clutches of the Shadow Realm," said Yami in a pained voice.

"Yami! No! I want to be with you!" But his cries went unheard as Yami used what he had left in him to push Yugi deep inside the puzzle. Not even where the light could reach.

Yami's life flashed before his eyes. He was dying without finding his name or his past. He was dying before ever really living again. The cold hands of the shadow realm greedily reached out to him, beckoning for him to fall faster. The dark was welcoming him and he began to accept its embrace.

The crescent moon smiled wistfully upon Serenity's form. How many times had she returned it's gaze with a mournful soul? Back in her home world. Back during her dark times. Back when she didn't know if she could live another day to bathe in the moonlight.

A voice inside her called out to her. _Open your eyes. Please open your eyes. It's not over. IT'S NOT OVER!_

Even though she couldn't bear the thought, even though she had no ounce of fight left in her-through burning tears, she forced upon her eyelids to face the world yet again. All thoughts were ejected when the sight of Yami's plummeting figure greeted her. Her body leaped before she even gave it a mental command. Using the moon disk to propel herself off of it, she sent herself diving towards Yami.

The Imperial Silver Crystal pulsed, sending energy dancing through her nerves, excited to finally wake up too. Her civilian clothes parted to give way to her royal lunar dress. The pearly white dress's ruffles fluttered in the wind and it felt like a thousand butterflies taking flight.

"YAMI!" Serenity yelled, despair piercing her voice as she extended her arms towards Yami. Tears continued spilling from her ocean eyes as her heart pumped desperation through her veins.

The face of her precious friends flashed before her eyes yet again, but Yami was the only one who was truly in front of her. She could do nothing when Sailor Pluto closed the door to her home world, giving her the impossible mission of returning life back to that an entire universe. Her hands reached out to grab nothing the moment Sailor Pluto had destroyed her crystal orb and cursed Serenity into this existence. But right now, Serenity did have something to reach out for. "Please! I can't lose you, too, Yami!"

Her arms strained as they stretched out for his descending figure. He was too far for her to reach. Her eyelids fell as she sent a prayer to the moon. Once her eyes fought to open again, she could hear the sharp wind whistling through feathers. Enormous white wings sprung behind her in the blink of an eye. Serenity folded up her wings tightly against her back, decreasing the air resistance. Her descent accelerated, bringing her all the more closer to Yami.

Another silent prayer soared to the starry heavens above and _finally_ , her arms connected with Yami's limp form. The moon princess wasted no time in wrapping her arms around his figure protectively. But she could not rejoice yet.

"Yami! Yami! Please wake up!" But her cries fell upon deaf ears. "Your friends are waiting for you!"

"I'm waiting for you" were the words left unsaid. Ripping her attention away from Yami's unresponsive face, she turned her blue eyes forward into the chilling abyss of the Shadow Realm. The tortured souls were howling, reaching its hands out in avarice for its new victims.

Serenity wasted no time in unfurling her wings, but she was too late. An army of insatiable hands sprung out of the darkness to pick apart the couple. Greedy fingers reached for Serenity's bright, diaphanous wings, envious of its light. The ravenous cursed souls of the underworld hungered for the light they hadn't tasted in hundreds of years.

The angelic princess curled her wings around both herself and Yami in order to fend off the cursed hands trying to pry them apart. Tainted fingers from all angles tore feathers from her wings, but Serenity gritted her teeth through the agonizing pain. She wasn't going to lose another precious person still within grasp. Not again.

The darkness doubled their efforts to break through her winged barricade. Her back erupted in pain as nails clawed at her back, gripping the base of her wings and trying to tear them from their seams.

The blonde bit her tongue, forcing down the scream of pain before it could even climb up her throat. Her screams would only feed the darkness. Instead, she used her pain-fueled adrenaline to implore for her Silver Crystal to expel the darkness like it had done time and time again.

" _Silver Imperium Crystal! Please save us! You've done it before. Please do it again!"_ A weak, almost agitated pulse of light came from the crystal in reply to her desperate plea. Her face contorted in pain and regret. Hot tears filled her vision as the wave of guilt crashed into her.

" _I'm sorry. I ran away. Instead of bearing the responsibility and marvelous power you had given me, I turned away. I chose ignorance. I chose to forget instead of facing my duty. It was a moment of weakness. I had failed. But I won't run away anymore! Please save us so that we can wake up another day to face our destinies, I beg of you!"_

The Silvery Crystal exploded in an awesome display of light. The Shadow Realm dispersed in lieu of its magnificent burst of power. Even the darkest corners of the underworld could not consume _this_ brightest of light, unrivaled among all universes.

Moments away from smashing into the pavement, Serenity spread her wings and changed their course. In the bat of an eye, she flew parallel to the ground and carved her way upwards to return to their friends. Her wings cut through the air. The blonde found her way at the top of the skyscraper once more, meeting the bereft-turned-shell shocked faces of Yami's friends. She floated down slowly onto the roof like a feather finally taking its rest. Tenderly, the girl laid Yami's unconscious form on the floor, arms still cradled around him as she knelt down. Kaiba, Joey, Tea and Tristan watched speechlessly as their eyes confirmed that the angel in front of them was not some sort of illusion. No matter how many times the non-believer Kaiba blinked or rubbed his eyes, the winged being would not go away.

Now Yami's head rested, pillowed upon her soft thighs. The tearful maiden had a hand curved around the back of his head, fingers in his spiky and surprisingly soft hair. Her other hand laid on his chest, feeling his faint heartbeat. "I'm so sorry," Serenity said, her voice breaking, "I've caused you so much trouble."

A glowing tear fell onto Yami's face, sliding down the curve of his cheek. The warmth of her tear slowly called him out from his slumber. His eyes opened steadily, blurry vision clearing to be greeted with the beautiful, weeping form of Serenity. His exhausted form still found the energy to reach up and cup Serenity's tear-stained cheek.

"Now, why are you crying?" he asked softly, his voice still weak, coming back from the brink of death.

"Because I lied to you. I lied to your friends. _I lied to myself_ ," the words spilled out of her mouth before she even knew they had been buried in her heart. That was why she had woken up with nothing. Serenity had thrown it all away because she couldn't bear the weight of all of her burden, mistakes, and guilt.

"It's alright. As long as the sun rises for another day, we all reserve the chance to change ourselves, to fix our mistakes, to make new memories."

A smile finally graced Serenity's face at his hopeful words. "Thank you for freeing me from the darkness."

Yami's face mirrored the blondes'. "Thank you for saving me from the darkness."

The weak Pharaoh discerned a soft, surprised gasp from one of his friends watching them. When he finally realized the the light emanating from Serenity wasn't simply just moonlight, his breathe seized. Serenity was dissipating. Parts of her had already broken apart into glowing orbs, floating upward like bubbles of starlight. Her form, which had grounded him before, began to fade. It grew faint enough for the moonlight and the sprinkle of stars to pierce her as if she were merely an illusion.

Serenity was transforming into a ghost before everyone's eyes.

"I swear I'll find my way back to you once more. I must keep all my promises after all," she said confidently. Her pretty lips stretched into a blinding smile. Her radiance was forever etched into Yami's mind. Carefully, she place Yami's head down onto the floor as even the imprints of her fingers in his hair evaporated.

Hot, burning tears pushed its way out of Yami. The almighty Pharaoh lied under the moon, crying, and pressed his hands against his eyes, as if trying to push the tears back in. Yami cursed the fates that he was not stronger than destiny. The first of the sun's rays kissed the horizon.

A new day was beginning.


End file.
